2ME survey results

Arabic language broadcaster 2ME has “increased its already dominant position as the most listened to and most trusted Arabic language radio station in Australia,” according to 2ME’s Gary Evans.

The survey was conducted by ‘The Interviewing Business’ for 2ME, which broadcasts on 1638AM in Sydney, Melbourne and nationally on pay TV service TARBS.

According to the survey, 2ME increased its audience share of Arabic radio stations listened to in the last month from 88.6% to 89.3%. In the same survey 2MEs’ closest competitor, SBS Radio, saw a reduction in its’ share of audience from 42% to 27.3%.

In Breakfast (5am-10am), 2ME again is “clearly the dominant #1 with Arabic radio listeners, (64.3% share). For News Credibility, 2ME is also #1.”

According to the survey, listeners have increased their trust in the overall 2ME news service from 72% to 75.5%.

“With correspondents reporting exclusively from Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, Beirut and Kuwait throughout the Iraq War, 2ME was the overwhelming choice as the most trusted for coverage with 73.3% of listeners.”

76% of respondents said 2ME was the most trusted for news about the Iraq war, compared with SBS Radio on 5.4%. 37% of respondents say they read Arabic newspapers.

The overall rankings of the top 4 stations in the survey were 2ME 72.3%, SBS – 5%, Radio Tomorrow 1620AM (recently acquired from the Labor Council) – 7%, MER – 3.3%.

“With a staff of more than 37 and a clearly non-secular and non-denominational policy, the 2ME format of credible news, music, talk, sport, competitions and on air personalities is a winner, even as more competitors enter the market,” says Evans.