Lebanese TV stations -LBC and Future TV- are the most popular amongst TV viewers in Lebanon.

February 04, 2008

A major new survey by Arab Advisors Group reveals that terrestrial TV still has a solid audience base in Lebanon with 93% of households watching terrestrial TV. Satellite TV is also popular with 75.8% of households stating that they own a satellite TV receiver. Moreover, radio listening is also wide spread in Lebanon with 82.0% of respondents tuning into radio: 52.0% of radio listeners listen to radio on a daily basis.

A new report, “Lebanon Media Survey 2007” was released by the Arab Advisors Group on February 3, 2008. This survey report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 1500.

The 69-page report, which has 104 detailed exhibits, provides the results of media usage patterns amongst cellular users’ households in Lebanon. The major survey probed each household’s media consumption habits and patterns related to Satellite TV, Terrestrial TV, Pay TV and Radio. The survey’s fieldwork was conducted between November 12 and December 1, 2007. The report provides statistical analysis of the results and insightful detailed cross tabulations. Please contact the Arab Advisors Group to get a copy of the report’s Table of Contents and the survey questions. Any investment in this report will count towards an annual Strategic Research Service subscription should the service be acquired within three months from purchasing the report.

The reports, which were released to the Arab Advisors Group Strategic Research Subscribers, and made available also for online purchase through Arab Advisors Group web site (www.arabadvisors.com), includes a detailed historic analysis, as well as five-year projections of Internet subscribers in the country. Moreover, the reports have more than 40 other Internet, telecommunication, and general economic and demographic indicators, including research released for the first time such as the number of mobile subscribers and the number of personal computers in the country.

The survey revealed that News is the most popular program type watched on television among respondents of all age groups. Moreover, 37.6% and 37.1% of respondents named LBC and Future TV –respectively- as one of five stations they watch most. The two Lebanese stations share was 8 percentage points higher than the nearest general channel competitor. This –the Arab Advisors Group believes- suggests that the attention these two channels pay to local Lebanese affairs, and their terrestrial broadcasts, have helped them in gaining the top two spots in the country.

Our findings revealed that Terrestrial TV is alive and kicking in Lebanon while Sat TV gains a respectable following. Moreover, when asked where they get their daily news updates, 86.7% of the respondents surveyed in Lebanon cited the TV and 64.0% cited the radio. Newspapers followed both TV and Radio.” Mr. Issa Goussous, Arab Advisors Group Research Analyst wrote in the report.

Arab Advisors Group’s major analytical survey of Lebanon was scientifically done. The survey involved face to face interviews with 600 respondents from different households across Lebanon. Respondents were 15 years old and above, and were cellular service users. This random survey is of the current cellular users in Lebanon, and not the total population of the country. The random survey has a 99% confidence level with a less than 6% margin of error. The survey included 133 detailed questions. In surveying cellular users and their media consumption patterns, Arab Advisors Group always relies on the personal face to face interviews as it guarantees optimal representation and accuracy.

This face to face survey revealed that 37.8% of Lebanon’s urban cellular users do not use the Internet. This underlines the fact that the only way to reliably cover the cellular and broadcast media markets is through face to face surveys. Online surveys are suitable for analyzing Internet users and usage habits but remain inherently biased and non-indicative for more main stream markets such as cellular and broadcast markets.

The survey report provides a balanced focus in the following areas:

• General Information of respondents
• TV viewing patterns and habits
- FTA Satellite TV
- Credibility of News Channels
- Pay TV
- Terrestrial TV
• Radio
• Internet Media
• Movies
• Daily News Update
• Media Advertising
• Media Satisfaction Level

The Arab Advisors Group’s team of analysts in the region has already produced over 1,030 reports on the Arab World’s communications and media markets. The reports can be purchased individually or received through an annual subscription to Arab Advisors Group’s (www.arabadvisors.com) Strategic Research Services (Media and Telecom). To date, Arab Advisors Group has served over 460 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients. Some of our clients can be viewed on http://www.arabadvisors.com/clients.htm