Zim daily newspapers records drop in readership

Daily newspapers readership in Zimbabwe fell modestly in the last quarter of last year according to the Zimbabwe All Media and Products Survey.

The ZAMPS survey for the final quarter of last year, published yesterday by the Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation, found The Herald's readership dropped from 36 to 35 percent of all urban Zimbabweans aged over 15.

NewsDay dived from 29 percent to 26 percent, while Daily News plummeted from 26 percent to 21 percent.

While the survey did not draw any conclusions for the drops, it did give data on internet access.

Usage penetration by urban adults during the quarter grew from 31 percent to 34 percent.

A smaller percentage accessed through a fixed home link, with just 11 percent penetration now.

Internet cafes saw a small rise in penetration, from 4 percent to 5 percent.

But it was the dramatic rise in smartphone numbers, which mattered.

Cellphone browsing rose dramatically from 13 to 21 percent of the urban population.

If trends in other countries are applicable to Zimbabwe then we have now people starting to switch to reading newspapers online rather than in printed form.

A total of 1 857 004 people read The Herald in the final quarter of last year, 973 930 read the NewsDay with H-Metro third placed on 965 028 readers.

Daily News slipped into fourth place with 926 640 readers and Chronicle was fifth with 612 710 readers.

Newsday pulled out of the ZAMPS survey last year and adopted Prove Market Research.