RIYADH, 10 September 2004 — With some 90 percent Saudi households having satellite TVs, the Kingdom has a much larger Al-Jazeera viewership base than US-sponsored Al-Hurra, a new survey reveals.
Al Hurra’s credibility ratings were also found to be quite poor all over Saudi Arabia in contrast with the high scores of Doha-based Al-Jazeera and Dubai-based Al-Arabiya.
The Arab Advisors Group survey covered all channels viewed in Saudi Arabia, be they news, music, sports or general entertainment. Radio listening patterns were also covered by the survey.
With a sample size of 134 households, the random survey has a 95 percent confidence level with a less than nine percent margin of error. The survey indicates that close to 16 percent of Arab households in Saudi Arabia have pay TV subscription. The survey also gives an indication of the market shares of the main pay TV operators— ART, Orbit and Showtime.
Ninety percent of surveyed households indicated that they prefer to watch satellite TV programs in Arabic, or with Arabic subtitles. Only 10 percent prefer the English language.
On the news channels front, Al-Jazeera topped the ranks in brand recognition and viewers with close to 82 percent of households watching the station. Al-Jazeera is closely followed by Al-Arabiya with 75 percent. The Saudi Al-Ekhbaria is viewed by 33 percent of households, while Al-Hurra is watched by 16 percent of households. CNN was next with 12 percent followed by Al Mustakila (11 percent), ANN (8 percent), NBN (8 percent), and BBC World (6 percent).
Close to 70 percent of respondents said that Al-Arabiya is very trustworthy. Less than 1.5 percent 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 percent of respondents said that the channel is very trustworthy. Less than three percent viewed the channel as not trustworthy. The remainder had no opinion.
As for Al-Hurra, only 17 percent respondents said that the channel is very trustworthy or trustworthy. A full 20 percent indicated that they viewed the channel as not trustworthy. The remaining had no opinion.
The survey covers individuals from different households in Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Dhahran. The 119 respondents who 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.
