“People tend to enter surveys because they either have time on their hands or they have something to say,” says Susie White, Director Sales & Marketing, CNBC Africa.
Therefore, when the company decided to conduct a mini-survey, it did not expect a great deal – 200, maybe 300 responses – from a readership it knows to have views, but also limited time to express them. Hence, when 707 responses came in, there was some surprise.
Of the respondents, 44% were from Gauteng, 33% from the rest of South Africa, and 22% from the rest of Africa.
“We carried out the survey to find out more about our users,” says White, who said that the results showed that though there is a wide range of income groups, 56% earn more than R30,000pm and 66% have shares on the JSE. Some 25% own shares in their own company.
Most of the respondents were male, mainly English speaking, and 65% were between the ages of 25 and 49, with 78% being based in South Africa.
As we all know, South Africans are keen on their cars, so it comes as little surprise that while most respondents own medium/small Toyotas or Volkswagens, the ownership of higher end German models is quite high, and 27% own more than one vehicle.
When away on business or vacation, Sun International and Holiday Inn are the hotel groups of choice, and the respondents will most often use either SAA to get there – if a domestic hotel – or British airways, if one outside of South Africa.
South Africans are often brand-conscious, so the respondents specified a wide range of preferred “tipple of choice”, though the rest of Africa showed a strong component of non-drinkers.
Rugby and foreign soccer were favourite sports, while a need for news, heard, read and watched, both current, but also business and financial, meant that MNet and news channels were the preferred viewing. A quarter claim to listen to 5fm, while talk radio – 702 and SAFM are high on the list of preferred listening posts.
The Sunday Times and Business Day are favourite newspapers while the Financial Mail is the most popular business magazine, with Finweek, the Economist and Time heading up the magazines stakes.
Some shows are more popular than others, hence Power Lunch and Business AM are the most familiar daily shows, with Personal Finance being the leader in weekly shows.
Conan O'Brien, with his mix of humour and informative content, is the most popular weekend show.
The survey also found that there is a strong demand for more regional/African market news as well as more content on the subject of personal finance.
And to end: David Shapiro intrigues the survey's respondents more than anyone else.
