30/11/2018. For as long as I can remember, newspapers have always been part of Malagasy daily life. At the time, there was already something to do with the old ones like Midi Madagasikara and Madagascar Tribune. Two or three dailies and that was it. With about fifty dailies, gazettes and other weeklies today, it’s easy to imagine that the press audience in Madagascar is stronger than ever. At least, that’s what one would think…
Indeed, do we really know which titles are the most read? Or what content actually attracts the readership? We didn’t know, until today :).
Table of contents
- Less than half of Tananarivians are used to reading the newspaper
- The criteria that most appeal to readers in a newspaper
- The most read newspapers and those preferred by the Tananarivians
- The columns that interest the most in the first 3 favorite newspapers of the Tananarivians
- People who don’t read newspapers
- What can we say about this survey on the print media audience in Antananarivo?
Less than half of Tananarivians are used to reading the newspaper
42% is the proportion of respondents who told us that they are used to reading the newspaper. And this habit, 49% of them have it every day and 21% once a week. Then 20% read newspapers several times a week, 3% read them several times a month and 1% read them only once a month.
On average, 67% of readers read only one newspaper in a reading session. Then 16% read two, 5% read three and just 1% read four.
The most interesting section, according to readers, remains news: 47% say it is the content they are most interested in in the newspaper. This is followed by entertainment and games, which 19% of them enjoy most, and politics for 10% of them. To each his or her hobbies I would like to say.
In order, we have after miscellaneous (7%), sports (5%), culture (4%), job offers (3%) and classified ads (1%).
The criteria that most appeal to readers in a newspaper
For readers, a good newspaper is first and foremost a good content: 67% of them thought so. Next comes variety, a criterion that appeals to 19% of the readers questioned.
The fact that the daily newspaper is affordable then only interests 5% of them, while the fact that it is easy to find it only interests 3%. And what about print quality, a criterion that is important for only 0.49% of the respondents.
The most read newspapers and those preferred by the Tananarivians
It is a fact that the media are not equal in terms of audience. The newspapers most read by the Tananarivians are therefore:
- Gazetiko (34%)
- Midi Madagasikara (32%)
- Ao Raha (21%)
- NGAH (17%)
- Taratra (14%)
- Jejoo (13%)
- Basy Vava (12%)
- Tia Tanindrazana (12%)
- L’Express de Madagascar (7%)
- JOB (6%)
On the other hand, this ranking changes (slightly) when one looks at the readers’ favourite newspapers. See instead :
- Gazetiko (20%)
- Midi Madagasikara (19%)
- NGAH (11%)
- Jejoo (10%)
- Ao Raha (8%)
- Taratra (8%)
- Tia Tanindrazana (5%)
- Basy Vava (3%)
- L’Express de Madagascar (3%)
- MaHery (2%)
The columns that interest the most in the first 3 favorite newspapers of the Tananarivians
Let’s take a look at the capital’s three favourite titles: Gazetiko, Midi Madagasikara and NGAH. Between them, they have 50% of the readership and are intriguing because of their success.
If we look at the headings that attract the most interest in each of them, we get the following distribution:
People who don’t read newspapers
This means that 58% are not interested in the written press. As the main reason given for this, 39% said they don’t have the time. 31%, on the other hand, are more direct and admit that reading the newspaper did not interest them.
Some 19% then say they prefer to follow other media altogether and 3% find local newspapers uninteresting.
But if they don’t read the newspapers, how do they keep up with the news? For 1% of them, it’s simple, they don’t follow it :). Problem solved.
For the rest, 56% say they follow it on TV, 27% on the radio, 15% on the Internet and 6% by simple hearsay.
What can we say about this survey on the print media audience in Antananarivo?
With 42% of readers in Antananarivo, it is safe to say that newspapers are not (no longer?) the primary media in the hearts of the people of Antananarivo. A state that we find in our survey on the trust given to the media in the Big Island: the written press comes third.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that the main reason for reading newspapers is still the news you read in them, with the possible exception of NGAH. The third favourite gazette of the Tananarivians, it is read more for its humorous content and games than for the news it gives. By far.
It is also noticeable that Midi Madagasikara, a venerable institution because of its great age, is mostly read for the news it gives, the politics it deals with and the job offers it offers. But when you look at what the three favourite titles in the city like, you come across the same thing: the quality of the content, to a very large extent, and its variety. The only difference: Midi Madagasikara is also appreciated for its availability (5%), while the other two are appreciated for their affordable prices (5% for Gazetiko and 4% for NGAH).
Moreover, speaking of price, we note that it is generally not the most important criterion for loyalty to a newspaper. It is not even the quality of its printing, however impeccable it may be, but rather, for many, the quality of the content they offer to their target readers.
Finally, let’s finish on a fact that will certainly please publishers: as a whole, 79% of readers buy their newspaper themselves!
