Most Popular Radio Station In Singapore
Wesley Godinez
As of August 2023, there are three licensed broadcasters of terrestrial radio in Singapore, offering a total of 19 FM radio stations; 12 are owned by the state-owned broadcaster Mediacorp, two are owned by So Drama! Entertainment, and five are owned by SPH Media.[1] The radio stations are broadcast primarily in the four official languages -- Malay, Chinese, Tamil and English to cater to diverse audiences. Owing to Singapore's history as a British colony, the English-language feed of the BBC World Service has been available in the region since its establishment, with Mediacorp relaying it as part of its FM services.
Foreign stations can also be received from the neighbouring regions of Malaysia (Johor Bahru/Johor Bahru District) and Indonesia (Batam/Batam Islands), with Singapore stations likewise being receptable in those areas as well.
Mediacorp operates twelve FM radio stations, with eleven domestic stations, as well as a relay of the BBC World Service.[2] The company's digital audio broadcasting service was discontinued on 1 December 2011.[3] In a 2022 survey, Nielsen reported that Mediacorp accounted for nine of the ten most-listened radio stations in the country, with C-pop station YES 933 being the highest-rated overall.[4]
Due to Singapore's proximity to Malaysia and Indonesia, radio stations from these countries can also be received; in particular, stations from the Johor Bahru, Malaysia and Batam, Indonesia regions are typically receptable in the country.
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According to a study published in September 2022 on radio stations in Luxembourg, the broadcaster RTL Radio Ltzebuerg had the largest audience with 146.3 thousand listeners. Another popular radio station was Eldoradio with an audience of 74.7 thousand people.
Trust in the news in Singapore (43%) slightly dipped this year, although it remains higher than levels seen prior to the pandemic. Mainstream news outlets remain the most trusted, but while their traditional and online platforms remain widely used in the city-state, they face a growing challenge from digital-native media.
The government, through its investment company Temasek Holdings, also owns Mediacorp, which operates all the local television stations and most radio stations in Singapore. Mediacorp operates the popular 24-hour news network Channel News Asia (36%), the most trusted news brand in Singapore and whose website is also one of the most frequently used online news source. Mediacorp operates free to air channels catering to each of the linguistic groups in the country, such as the Chinese-language Channel 8 (used weekly by 29%) and the English-language Channel 5 (25%).
Singapore has an extensive regulatory system that covers offline and online news platforms on the island. The Newspaper and Printing Presses Act governs the licensing of newspaper companies while the Broadcasting Act regulates the licensing of broadcasting services as well as internet content providers, including online news sites. Since 2013, the government has required individual licensing for online news sites that publish regular articles on Singapore news and current affairs and have large numbers of monthly visitors.3
While it has risen to become among the most frequently used news sites in Singapore, Mothership.sg (53%) still ranks significantly lower in brand trust than the more established brands from SPH and Mediacorp, which have been operating for much longer.
In 2021 there was a slight decrease in the number of news outlets: SPH merged its Chinese-language afternoon newspaper Lianhe Wanbao with its other Chinese-language afternoon newspaper Shin Min Daily News in December 2021.6 Alternative media site The Online Citizen also took down its website and social media pages in September 2021 after the government suspended its class licence for refusing to declare its funding sources.7
Singaporeans still get their news primarily from online sources including heavy use of a wide range of different social networks and messaging apps. TV news consumption remains relatively stable while weekly print consumption is now half the level (23%) it was in 2017.
The number of downloads of the app - which consolidates SPH Radio's audio programmes, from radio shows to podcasts - climbed by 9.1 per cent, with a total of 559,290 downloads as at November last year.
Industry surveys, such as the Gfk 2021 Singapore Audience Study, found that SPH Radio stations have higher engagement with listeners compared with other radio stations run by rivals such as Mediacorp and So Drama! Entertainment, which was previously Safra Radio.
In the Gfk study conducted last year with 3,000 individuals aged 15 and above, listeners rated highly on metrics such as visiting an event or advertiser's website or social media page after hearing it on SPH Radio stations.
"This is also in line with other supporting findings that SPH Radio listeners have a more positive opinion of the products or brands that are advertised and are more likely to talk to friends and family about what they heard or read," said SPH Media Trust.
The Gfk study found that One FM 91.3 remains one of the most popular radio stations for the white-collar audience segment, with listeners citing "discovering new songs" as their biggest reason to tune in. Its deejays include well-known personalities such as Glenn Ong and The Flying Dutchman, whose real name is Mark van Cuylenburg.
A separate survey by market research firm Milieu Insights found that Money FM 89.3 remains the most influential radio station for the second year in a row, with the highest rate of conversion to action among listeners.
Money FM 89.3 listeners rated the station highly for the survey metrics of news, topical discussions and interviews with experts, which were much higher than the industry average, according to the survey, which had more than 2,000 respondents.
"I'm happy that our survey results reflect our growth and continued commitment to deliver relevant, engaging and empowering content to our listeners. I am confident that we will see our numbers grow in 2022 as we have a very exciting year planned for our audiences," he said.
Although digital marketing is now the most popular channel of advertising, radio advertising is still an efficient medium to reach out to your customers. This is because radio advertising is an extremely cost effective one that you can use to reach out to a large, targeted audience. For companies such as automobile dealers, jewellery companies, beauty salons, medical spas, health products and services, this channel has consistently proven to be an effective platform for them to generate brand awareness and achieve business growth.
(7) Decide whether you want to outsource the production of the radio commercial to a professional radio production company, or let the radio station execute it at a lower cost. Sometimes, your ad agency might suggest a good production company. The ad script, stock music, voice talents and post production editing are always included as part of the total cost. Usually, cost can start from SGD1,500 onwards.
A typical radio proposal includes terms specific to the radio advertising industry and pricing for selected spots per week, timing, the length of the spots and other entitlements. The terms may be different across countries, but some terms such as spots, rate, cost, morning drive time, evening drive time, frequency and net reach are basically the same.
Radio advertising includes the cost of radio ad production, voice talent, scriptwriting and the cost to run your radio ads. It is often quoted on a per-spot basis and ranges from SGD300 to SGD600 per 30 or 60 seconds onwards, but radio stations usually provide you with a discount if you take up more advertising spots over a period of time. The cost per spot also depends on the following factors:
How many spots will give me the required response I am looking at? As an estimate, I usually allocate a minimum budget of S$10,000 per radio campaign for it to generate the kind of response that I am looking at, though campaign effectiveness differs across products and services. You might be able to get a campaign with as little as S$5,000 for stations such as SAFRA radio though this is because their reach and audience may not be as extensive as bigger stations such as SPH and Mediacorp Radio. Note that each radio station has different costs depending on their audience, which are determined via an independent third party organisation.
Some of the ways that I have used to measure the ROI of my traditional advertising campaigns include using coupons, lucky draws, promotion codes, surveys, social media accounts and web analytics. You can also get a lead through your website, in-person or through telephone purchases by offering a reward to your customers who mentions the radio station or programme that plays your commercials.
Hence, you can still measure an indicative ROI of your radio campaigns within a specific time frame. Firstly, you need to know the number of attributable leads you received in total as a result of the radio ads. When you receive a lead through your call-to-action, either through one of your web pages, your Facebook page, SMS, telephone or onsite location. For physical businesses with an onsite location, it can be a promotion code that you asks customers to verbalise to the counter staff at, for instance, an F&B business, or a small entertainment attraction for kids. You can then ask your staff to note down the number of customers into a Google sheet who came in using this code and track your conversions.
Other measurable goals that you can measure includes sales, website visits or the number of new customers. You also need to have your marketing department calculate the total marketing spend on your radio ads and the costs of any creatives that were done during the process.
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