Survey: Some 90% of Arab households in Saudi Arabia have Satellite TVs

Al Jazeera viewers base in Saudi Arabia is five times larger than United States Sponsored AlHurra’s audience. Al Hurra’s credibility scores are quite bad in contrast with those of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya.  

A new scientific survey by the Arab Advisors Group revealed that close to 89% of Arab households in Saudi Arabia have Satellite TVs. The results also revealed that Arab SAT TV Viewers in Saudi Arabia have little trust in AlHurra News Channel. In contrast Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya news channels have much higher credibility amongst a much larger viewers base. The survey covered all channels viewed in Saudi Arabia be they news, music, sports and general entertainment. Radio listening patterns were also covered by the survey.  

With a sample size of 134 households, the random sample survey has a 95% confidence level with a less than 9% margin of error.  

The survey indicates that close to 16% of Arab households in Saudi Arabia have a Pay TV subscription. The survey results show the market shares between the main Pay TV operators, ART, Orbit and Showtime. 

90% of surveyed households indicated that they prefer to watch Sat TV programming in Arabic, or with Arabic subtitles. Only 10% prefer the English language. 

The survey probed the brand name recognition of Sat TV channels in Saudi Arabia as well as the extent to which these channels are viewed. It covered the brand name recognition and viewer ship patterns the general entertainment channels (such as MBC, LBC, Future, etc.), the music channels (such as Rotana, Melody, Mezzika, etc.), Religious Programming Channels (such as Iqraa, Al Majd, etc.) and news channels. 

On the news channels front, Al Jazeera topped the ranks in brand recognition and viewers with close to 82% of households watching the station. Al Jazeera is closely followed by Al Arabiya with 75% of households watching it. The Saudi Al Ekhbaria is viewed by 33% of households, while United States-sponsored Al Hurra is watched by 16% of households. CNN followed with 12% followed by Al Mustakila (11%), ANN (8%), NBN (8%), and BBC World (6%). 

Close to 70% of respondents said that Al Arabiya is very trustworthy or trustworthy. Less than 1.5% indicated that they viewed the channel as not trustworthy. The remaining had no opinion on the level of trustworthiness of the station.  

For Al Jazeera, 69% of respondents said that the channel is very trustworthy or trustworthy. Less than 3% indicated that they viewed the channel as not trustworthy. The remaining had no opinion on the level of trustworthiness of the station. 

As for Al Hurra, only 17% of respondents said that the channel is very trustworthy or trustworthy. A full 20% indicated that they viewed the channel as not trustworthy. The remaining had no opinion on the level of trustworthiness of the station. 

The survey covers individuals from different households in Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Dhahran. The 119 respondents that are Satellite TV viewers are divided into 67 males and 52 females. The sample is further divided into 82 Saudis and 37 non-Saudi but Arabic Speaking nationals. To mirror the demographic situation fully, the sample also corresponds to the age distribution of the Saudi population. (menareport.com)

© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)