INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING IN INDONESIA

Media Market Report, April 2009

Available Documents for Download (pdf)

Full Report - Executive Summary - VOA Radio - VOA Television- Media Market - Appendices

Executive Summary

• VOA Indonesia Service was reaching 10.5 percent of the Indonesian adult population at least once a week by April 2009, according to the new InterMedia national survey. The 2009 survey (administered from early March to early April 2009) replicates the sample design of the previous two InterMedia surveys conducted in Indonesia in December 2006 and 2007.
• The 2007 survey indicated VOA radio and television programming had a combined weekly reach of 17.5 percent. The difference between 17.5 percent in December 2007 and 10.5 percent in April 2009 is statistically significant. However, it is important to emphasize two points. First, although the 2009 survey replicates the 2007 survey, the 2009 survey included different questions to measure the reach of VOA radio and television programming.
• Second, and most importantly, as pointed out in the previous InterMedia report for Indonesia (released in July 2008), the 2007 survey included several new measures for VOA TV that might have led to an overestimation of the VOA audience in Indonesia that year. As a result, comparisons between the reach figures for 2007 and 2009 should only be made with caution, particularly as they relate to VOA TV measures. In sum, it cannot be asserted that the VOA combined television and radio audience reach has diminished since the previous survey, due to the technical and methodological differences in measurement of VOA audience between 2007 and 2009. This report provides a detailed explanation of the methods used to measure VOA reach in the 2009 questionnaire.
• VOA TV programming has a weekly reach of 9.5 percent, according to the 2009 survey. This percentage would roughly translate into a weekly audience of 14 million adults. VOA produces nearly four hours of Indonesian-language TV programming per week for numerous national and local TV affiliates. According to the 2009 survey, some of the most popular VOA TV programs are VOA inserts on RCTI’s Seputar Indonesia Pagi (3.6 percent weekly reach) and SCTV’s Liputan 6 Siang (2.9 percent weekly reach), Dunia Kita (2.6 percent weekly reach) and Laporan VOA (2.5 percent weekly reach) on Metro TV. • Other international broadcasters, such as BBC World, CNN International, CNBC Asia, Al-Jazeera English, and Australia Network, are available only by satellite. These international TV stations have smaller audiences than do VOA TV—at least partly because they mostly broadcast in English, and subscription-based satellite television only reaches roughly 15 percent of the Indonesian population. However, other international news broadcasters, particularly CNN and Al-Jazeera, tend to have a stronger brand than VOA TV. Although VOA TV programming has a relatively strong presence in Indonesia, VOA TV is not widely recognized yet as a name or brand or as a media entity for a variety of reasons. By April 2009, VOA TV was recognized by 8 percent of respondents, whether spontaneously or prompted, compared to 11 percent in late 2007. In other words, awareness of VOA TV is lower than last year. Weekly reach of leading international radio broadcasters in Indonesia 2006 2007 2009 VOA Radio 1.5% 1.2% 2.0% BBC Radio 4.1% 3.2% 1.8% Radio Australia 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% Base: n=3013 (November 2006); n=3012 (December 2007); n=3000 (April 2009) Note: Data for each broadcaster reflect unduplicated reach for services in any language
• The 2009 survey indicates that VOA radio in Indonesian had a weekly reach of 2.0 percent by April 2009. In the previous survey, conducted in December 2007, the weekly reach for VOA was 1.1 percent. The apparent growth in VOA radio programming is statistically significant. However, in addition to the standard question for VOA radio reach (“When was the last time you listened to VOA radio?”), the 2009 survey included questions about the reach of specific VOA radio programs. As a result, the 2007 and 2009 VOA radio reach figures are not entirely comparable. In fact, the standard measure of VOA radio weekly reach in 2009 was 1 percent (not different from the 1.1 percent weekly reach of VOA radio measured as a station in 2007). VOA has more than 240 FM and AM radio affiliates across Indonesia, and it can also be directly accessed through satellite. VOA produces eight hours of original radio programming per day.
• Although it is not certain that VOA radio is experiencing growth in 2009, the audience for BBC radio in Indonesia (VOA radio’s main competitor in the country) has declined since 2006. In 2009, BBC radio in Indonesian had a weekly reach of 1.5 percent, below the 2 percent VOA radio weekly reach. By April 2009, VOA radio appears as the leading international radio in Indonesian, although it is important to consider that the difference between 1.5 percent and 2 percent is still within the margin of error for the study sample. • VOA radio was recognized by 13 percent of the adult Indonesian population by April 2009, either spontaneously or when prompted. This is the same percentage that recognized VOA radio in December 2007. However, VOA radio was mentioned spontaneously by 5 percent in 2009 (compared to 2 percent in the previous survey). At the same time, the popularity of BBC radio seems to be declining. BBC radio was recognized by 19 percent in 2009 and 26 percent in 2007. Most importantly, the difference in spontaneous awareness between BBC radio (6 percent) and VOA radio (5 percent) is now within the margin of error; last year their levels of spontaneous awareness were separated by 9 percentage points.
• VOA started its internet service in Indonesia in 2001 but it has not taken off yet. Internet access in Indonesia is still scarce and growing at a fairly slow pace. This year’s survey data indicate that 5.2 percent of Indonesian adults had accessed the internet in the previous week (compared to 3.7 percent in the 2007 survey), though the figure is much higher for certain regions (17 percent in the Jakarta area) and demographic groups (15 percent among those with a university level education). Three-quarters of weekly internet users live in urban areas.