48% of households in Cairo use the Internet and 46% have Satellite TV.

January 26, 2005

The Arab Advisors Group conducted a major comprehensive survey of the media and telecom usage habits of the population of Greater Cairo between November 2004 and Jan 2005. On the TV front, despite the relatively wide adoption of Sat TV, terrestrial TV is still alive and kicking with a full 91% of households in Cairo tuning in to Egypt’s terrestrial TV channels. Of the Sat TV viewers, 68.3% tune in to news channels. Al Jazeera news channels is the most widely watched (88.4% of households with Sat TV watched it), followed by Al Arabiya (35.1%), Nile News (8.9%), CNN (6.6%), Al Hurra (4.6%), Al Ekhbaryia (3.9%), BBC (3.1%), ANN, Euronews and Manar (each with 0.4%). The survey also probed the channels the households watched in the categories of: Music Channels, Entertainment Channels, Sport Channels and Religion Channels. On the GSM front, the survey revealed that some 71% of households in Cairo have a GSM line.

Arab Advisors Group’s major analytical survey of Cairo’s population was scientifically done. The survey involved face to face interviews with 562 people from different households in the Greater Cairo area selected randomly from different areas in the city in a manner proportionate to the population size of the different areas. Respondents were above 18 years old. The survey has a confidence level of 99% with a margin of error of 5.5%. Please contact us to get a copy of the survey questions.

The survey is a multi client project of Arab Advisors custom research and consulting service. The study was not commissioned by any party and is available for all companies and interested parties.

The full results of the survey (including detailed statistical analysis and relevant cross tabulations) are available in two major reports “Cairo Households Telecom Survey 2005” and “Cairo Households Media Survey 2005”. Each report comes with the filled survey questionnaires in electronic format sorted both by question and by respondent.

The report “Cairo Households Telecom Survey 2005” can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 1,875 (Subscribers to Arab Advisors Strategic Research Services get a special discount of 33% making the applicable price only US$ 1,250). Please contact the Arab Advisors Group for a table of contents of this 45 pages and 69 exhibits report.

The report “Cairo Households Media Survey 2005” can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 1,875 (Subscribers to Arab Advisors Strategic Research Services get a special discount of 33% making the applicable price only US$ 1,250). Please contact the Arab Advisors Group for a table of contents of this 68 pages and 106 exhibits report.

Both reports detail valuable demographic information such as level of education, marital status, household income level, age of respondents and gender.

Purchasing both reports also entails a 20% discount on the total price.

The “Cairo Households Media Survey 2005” reveals that 46% of Cairo households have a Sat TV dish, and a full 91% still also watch terrestrial TV broadcasting. TV viewing peak time is 9 PM – mid night, with close to 80% of households watching TV during this time.

On the Pay TV front, a full third of PAY TV users use illegally pirated cable neighborhood providers! The market shares of PAY TV providers (ART, ShowTime and ORBIT) are detailed and analyzed.

The survey report details all TV channels watched in Cairo (as reported by the respondents themselves), in the following categories: Arabic channels and non Arabic channels name recognition, Favorite Channels, Religious Channels, Sports Channels, General Entertainment, Music Channels and News Channels watched.

The respondents named and commented on over 140 Sat TV channels. These channels include the following channels (in alphabetical order):

Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Al Alam, Al Arabiya, Al Ekhbariya, Al Fajer, Al Hayat, Al Hurra, Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera Sports, Al Khalijiya, Al Majd, Al Mostakila, Al Rai, Al Shababiya, Al Sharqiya, Al Shasha, Algeria,
ANN, ART, ART Al Hikayat, ART Cinema, ART Movies, ART Music,
ART Sports, ART Tarab, ART Teenz, B4U, Bahrain, BBC, BBC World, Bloomberg, CCTV, CCTV 9, Cinema, Cinema 1, Cinema City, CNN, Comedy Channel, Discovery, Disney, Dream 1, Dream 2, Dubai, Dubai Business, Dubai Sports, DWTV, Egypt Satellite Channel, Egypt Satellite Channel 2, Ein TV, Emirates, Entertainment, ETV, Euronews, Eurosport, Extra 3, Fashion TV, Film TV, FOX, Future, Game Network, Hawa 2, Hawa Sawa, Heya, Hit Channel, Infinity, Iqraa, Iraq, Jordan, Khaleejiya, Kuwait, Kuwait Sports, LBC, Manar, Mazzika, MBC, MBC 2, MCM, Mehwar, Melody, METV, Morocco, Mors, Movie Channel, Movie Plus, MTV, Music Plus, Musica, Nafartiti, NBA TV, NBC, NBN, New Sat TV, Nile News, Nile Culture, Nile Drama, Nile Family, Nile News, Nile Sports, Nile TV, Nile Variety, Nojoom Al Khaleej, Oman, One TV, Orbit 1, Orbit 2, Orbit Fan, Palestine, Paramount, Qatar Satellite, Rotana, Rotana clip, Rotana Tarab, RTL 1, Sat 7, Saudi 1, Saudi 2, Saudi Sports, Sharjah, Showtime, Space Toons, Star Movies, Style, Super Movies, Syria, Tanweer, Tele Leban, Telephone, Tunisia, TV Land, TV Max, TV Media, TV5, URTV, VIVA, VOX, Zen TV

The survey also probed and analyzed the trust worthiness of and audience shares of the following news channels: Al Mustakila, Al Ekhbariya, Al Hurra, Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, BBC World, CNN, NBN.

On the radio front, more than 68% of respondents listen to the Radio, with a dominant preference for FM radio. The survey details the preferred location and frequency of radio listening as well as the types of programs preferred and the Radio stations preferred. Audience levels of the following radio channels are detailed:

Aghani, Al Quran Al Karim, Al Sharq Al Awsat, BBC, Cairo, General Broadcast, London, Monte Carlo, Nile, Nojoom FM, Sawa, Sawt Al Arab, Shabab Wa Riyadah, and Um Kalthoum.

The survey also revealed that 75% of Cairo households go to the Movie Theaters. The results rank the preferred cinemas that the residents of Cairo go to. Analyzed cinemas include: Al Salam, Al Tahrir, Begal, Cairo Mall, Cosmos, Diana, El Haram, Faten Hamamah, Galaxy, Genina, Karim, Metro, Miami, Normandi, Odeon, Radobis, Rainaissance, Ramsis Hilton, Rivoli, Roxy, Sheraton, Tiba.

In addition 87% of respondents indicated that they read newspapers. The different market shares of Al-Ahram, Al Akhbar, Al-Gomhuria, Al-Wafd, Al-Messa are detailed in the report.

The areas covered in the media survey include:

A) Satellite Dish Antenna
B) Pay TV
C) Satellite TV Channels Analysis
D) News Channels Trustworthiness
E) Terrestrial TV
F) TV Viewing Patterns
G) Radio
H) TV Interactivity
I) Movies
J) Newspapers

The “Cairo Households Telecom Survey 2005” reveals that some 38.4% of Cairo households make international calls. On the GSM front, the survey revealed that some 71% of households in Cairo have a GSM line. Around 23% of GSM handsets support MMS, while 14% are camera phones. Close to 93% of GSM users use SMS, with 18% of them using it on a daily basis. The survey probed the use, providers and market shares of the following telecom services:

q Fixed phone (local and national)
q Cellular phone (local)
q SMS
q Internet chatting
q Email
q Fixed phone (international)
q Postal Services
q Cellular phone (international)
q MMS
q Courier Services (Aramex, TNT, DHL, etc)
q Fax (local and/or international)
q Pay Phones

The areas covered in the telecom survey include:

A) Communication methods used.
B) International calling use.
C) Cellular use.
D) Cellular handset models.
E) SMS use.
F) Personal Computers.
G) Internet (dialup and broadband) use.

Any investment in any one of these two reports will count towards attending Arab Advisors’ second annual Media and Telecoms Convergence Conference on June 11 & 12 2005. More information on the conference can be seen at http://www.arabadvisors.com/Convergence/schedule.htm. Alternatively contact the Arab Advisors Group for full information on the conference, agenda and sponsorship opportunities.

To date, Arab Advisors Group has served more than 210 global and regional companies by providing reliable research analysis and forecasts of Arab communications markets to these clients.