SONA drama fails to grip SA viewers

EFF MPs leave Parliament during President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address. File picture: Schalk van Zuydam

EFF MPs leave Parliament during President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address. File picture: Schalk van Zuydam

Published Feb 13, 2016

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Johannesburg - The drama round President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address (SONA) was always going to make for good TV, but the viewership statistics show this year's drama didn't top the theatrics of last year.

According to television ratings compiled by the Broadcast Research Council (BRC) of South Africa 2 236 588 South Africans tuned into watch SONA, which took place on Thursday night in Cape Town.

This was 137 811 fewer than the number of South Africans who watched proceedings last year.

Then the figure stood at 2 374 399, drawing the highest television ratings for any political event in 2015.

Data for the SONA events was compiled using BRC’S Television Audience Measurement (TAM)Panel which consists of 2 500 households, and 10 500 individuals aged four and over. Viewing was collected in-home, using a set Peoplemeter. Demographic information was also collected via a complimentary remote control unit.

The television ratings for SONA were gathered using combined audiences for SABC 2 and e.TV. Figures may marginally change once programme ratings are released on Monday.

However, social media participation was 35 percent higher than 2015.

This is according to research done by youKnow Digital, a social media marketing consultancy.

Research also indicated the biggest topic of interest for the social media community was the drought, on 25 percent, followed by racism and the one capital city, both on 23 percent.

A large percentage (66 percent) of the conversation originated from Gauteng, with 19.5 percent from the Western Cape. Third was KwaZulu-Natal.

Saturday Star

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