'Pos Kota', 'Kompas' still on top

'Pos Kota', 'Kompas' still on top

JAKARTA (JP): Pos Kota and Kompas remain the country's top
dailies with 3.1 million adult readers each, according to a
survey by marketing research company PT SRI Nielsen Indonesia
(ACNielsen).

The survey, conducted during the first half of this year and
revealed to the public on Wednesday, also shows that RCTI is
still the country's top television channel, controlling 37
percent of the local TV market.

The survey further indicates that Sonora is Jakarta's favorite
radio station for people aged above 15 years, with 1.7 million
listeners.

Irawati Pratignyo of ACNeilson presented the survey's results,
saying Kompas "recorded an increase in the number of readers due
to its news of reforms."

Other large newspapers in terms of readership include Jawa
Pos, Suara Pembaruan, Republika, Pikiran Rakyat, Harian Terbit,
Media Indonesia, Surya and Waspada.

Women's tabloid Nova and sport's tabloid Bola rank as the
country's first and second largest tabloids with 2.2 million and
2 million readers respectively.

Political tabloids Adil and Aksi, which started to hit
newsstands earlier this year, have 337,000 and 654,000 readers
respectively.

Women's magazine Femina, teen magazine Aneka and general
magazine Gatra have about 500,000 readers each, making them the
country's largest magazines.

Eleven publications ceased operating this year, but about the
same number of new organizations plan to start publishing this
year.

ACNielsen media research director Rita Dumais said the TV
rankings below RCTI show that SCTV, Indosiar and TPI
each enjoy a similar number of TV viewers. ANteve, however, is
the least popular channel, attracting only 8 percent of TV
viewers.

She noted that television was the only media form which booked
an increase in consumption, saying it enjoyed a rise of 10
percent.

The survey notes people in Sumatra have more satellite discs
than those in Java and other islands. Only 1.1 million out of the
30 million households in Java can access satellite discs, while
in Sumatra 1.2 million of 9.8 million households enjoy satellite
services and 1.1 million of 9.4 million households have access in
other regions.

Only 5 percent of the households, however, watch foreign
channels.

Irawati said television penetration in Jakarta, Surabaya in
East Java, Bandung in West Java and Medan in North Sumatra rose
10 percent in the first half of the year over the same period of
last year.

Other media forms, including newspapers, magazines, cinemas
and radio, saw their penetration decline in the first half of the
year with radio experiencing the largest drop at 9 percent.

The survey shows that two of five radio listeners in Greater
Jakarta love Indonesian pop songs, while 32 percent like dangdut
songs.

The survey also shows that advertisement expenditures in the
print media and television dropped in the first half of the year
due to the monetary crisis.

"Advertisements in the print media decreased 20 percent in the
second quarter of the year, compared to the same period of last
year," Rita said.

Televisions recorded an increase in advertisements from
healthy drinks, cigarettes, analgesic and headache medicines,
bath soap and premium phone lines.

The survey also indicated that sales volumes of various
essential products decreased 37 percent in the first half of the
year, whereas their prices increased 83 percent.

The increase in prices was factored by, among others, the
closure of 81 supermarkets in 12 towns, including 51 supermarkets
in Jakarta.

A decrease in purchasing power due to the crisis has forced
households to change their consumption patterns, the survey says.

Ninety percent of households surveyed by the company said they
would keep a budget for vegetables despite the crisis, but 57
percent said they would cut spending for meat, while 50 percent
would lower or eliminate spending for secondary foods like
chocolate, crackers and soft drinks.

An international survey made by ACNielsen notes that Indonesia
has the lowest penetration into the Internet (1 percent) in Asia
with Singapore having the highest penetration into the global
computer network (23 percent). (jsk)