The change of government from Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Harapan after the May 9 general election, has given Media Prima news viewership a huge boost.
However, Media Prima TV Networks chief executive officer Johan Ishak has also emphasised that its channels’ dedicated team of broadcast journalists and newscasters who reported on the spot with professionalism, speed and impartiality largely made the difference.
“Our team upheld professionalism at all times, despite the change of government, and that is why our channels’ news programmes have gained more viewers since the end of GE14,” he said in an interview today.
He explained that surveys conducted by international TV and Internet research company Nielsen, showed that 17 million viewers watched Media Prima news programmes 23 times in May, and that meant these programmes received 400 million views.
“We’ve got 21 million TV viewers in the country and 17 million (81 per cent) watch Media Prima news,” he said.
Johan added that TV3’s 8pm news Buletin Utama saw its viewership rise from 3.57 million in April to 3.78 million in May (6 per cent), while Berita TV9 also had a 6 per cent rise from 1.6 million to 1.7 million in the same period.
“8TV’s Mandarin News’ viewers went up from 1 million to 1.2 million (20 per cent) while ntv7’s Mandarin 7’s viewers rose from 400,000 to 550,000 (37 per cent),” said Johan.
From the end of May to early June, Buletin Utama achieved a record 4.3 million in daily viewership reach, likewise TV3’s afternoon news segment Buletin 1.30 with 1.5 million, and its midnight news segment Nightline with 1 million.
“The Mandarin news on ntv7 and 8TV reached 900,000 and 1.3 million respectively, while Berita TV9 had 1.7 million.
“This puts us ahead of RTM’s Nasional 8 (1 million), RTM’s Mandarin News (650,000) and Astro Awani’s Hari Ini 8 (250,000),” explained Johan.
When asked about online viewership, Johan revealed that it rose 100 per cent from 35 million to 71 million a week after the election.
“Video views of Berita TV3 went up from 8.5 million to 14 million (72 per cent), and those of 8TV’s Mandarin News went up from 20 million to 44 million (114 per cent).”
As for the digital portals, Johan revealed that they received 34.5 million page views between May 9 and 10 – 13.4 million for election results portal Myundi, 8.4 million for Harian Metro Online, 4.8 million for BH Online, 4.3 million for Says.com and 2.8 million for NST Online.
“Our viewership is at its highest in five years. We are optimistic that this trend will continue, and our dedicated team of journalists will make it happen.”