NTV Tonight, the main English news bulletin for NTV Uganda that airs at 09:00pm is Uganda’s leading English news programme, according to GeoPoll’s Uganda Media Ratings Report for Q1 2019, released on July 2nd 2019.
GeoPoll is a global full service research agency out of the United States of America with presence on all 6 continents. To generate the audience reports, the firm on a daily basis, collects audience viewership and listenership data for TV and radio respectively, from its panel of respondents around the country via a unique mobile-based platform.
The data for the Q1, 2019 report covers January-March 2019.
The report covers ratings for National television stations and Kampala radio stations. Under national television, ratings were carried out for English news, Luganda news, telenovelas and English talkshows.
For Kampala radio, ratings were compiled for English breakfast shows, English talk shows, Luganda breakfast shows and Luganda talk shows.
NTV and NBS TV dominate English news broadcasts
NTV Tonight that airs Monday-Sunday from 09pm-9:50pm scored a rating of 3.9, closely followed by NTV at 1, again NTV Uganda’s daytime news bulletin that airs at between 1pm and 1:30pm with a rating of 3.4.
This is a break from tradition as peak time for TV is usually between 06:00pm and 10:00pm.
In the 3rd slot is NBS’ Live at 9, their premier news bulletin, with a rating of 2.8, closely followed by NBS’ Live at 1 that airs at lunch time.
Although UBC TV’s News Tonight is in the 5th spot, it is worlds apart from the top 4; with a rating of just 0.9.
Bukedde rules the Luganda news segments
Although Luganda TV news broadcasts were more evenly distributed, than the English news bulletins, Vision Group’s Bukedde 1 features more prominently than all the other TV stations in the top 5 and top 10 Luganda news broadcasts.
Agataliiko Nfuufu that airs on Bukedde 1 from 10 PM – 11 PM was rated the No.1 Luganda news segment with a rating of 4.2, closely followed by NTV’s Akawungeezi that airs at 7pm-8pm- rated at 4.0. In the third position is again Bukedde 1’s Ag’omu ttuntu that airs between 12:30pm-01:00pm.
NBS’ Amasengejje at 7pm-8pm is in the fourth position with a rating of 2.5 followed by BBS TV’s Agesigika rated at 2.0.
NBS’ Frontline tops TV talk show programs
NBS TV’s premier talk show- Frontline beat NTV’s On the Spot show to the No.1 position, with a rating of 3.1. Frontline airs on Thursdays at 10pm- just like NTV’s On the Spot which is in the second position with a 3.0 rating.
UBC TV’s Talk time that airs on Monday 9pm-10pm and Pick a point that airs on Fridays, 9pm-10pm are a distant 3rd and 4th positions respectively, with a rating of 0.9 and 0.7.
Top radio English and Luganda morning programmes
GeoPollalso did a survey on the most popular radio breakfast and evening (drive time) programmes, both in English and Luganda for Kampala.
Mornings (06am-10am) and evenings (03pm to 07pm) are peak times for radio programming with the highest listenership and as such the most sought-after by advertisers. These time bands are also premiumly priced and are the money makers for radio.
Capital FM’s Morning Crew scooped the No.1 position with a rating of 2.7, followed by Radio One’s Gr8 Morning and KFM’s D’Mighty Breakfast in the second and third positions respectively, with a rating of 2.5 and 1.9.
Galaxy FM’s Morning Saga is in the 4th position, rated at 1.5 while SanyuFM’s Sanyu Breakfast is in the 5th position with a 1.3 rating.
CBS FM 88.8 scooped the top position in the Luganda breakfast radio shows category with a rating of 5.3- indicating Luganda stations are the more popular in Kampala, followed by Radio Simba’s Binsanga Wano in the second position with a rating of 3.4.
SuperFM’s Zukuka is in the 3rd position with a rating of 2.4.
Capital FM’s sister station, Beat FM with their show, Sisimuka is in the 4th position with a rating of 1.8, while Bukedde FM’s Bukedde Butya is in 5th position with a 1.4 rating.
Most popular radio English and Luganda evening programmes
Drive show radio programing in Luganda proved more popular than English programming.
According to GeoPoll, Bukedde FM’s Washing Bay programme that airs between 3pm-7pm had the highest rating of all of the English and Luganda drive show programs studied- at 3.2. The second most popular program overall was also a program in Luganda on Beat FM called Gigenze Gitya with a rating of 2.5.
The top 5 English drive show programmes are Capital FM’s Drive Show, Evening Rush (Galaxy FM), The Drive (Sanyu FM), K-Drive (K-FM) and Drive Time (Radio One). The top 5 Luganda drive shows in order of ranking are: Washing Bay (Bukedde FM), Gigenze Gitya (Beat FM) Mukulikeeyo (Radio Simba), Sanyuka The Heart Beat (CBSFM88.8) and SuperFM’s Kasenda Bazaana.
Geopoll has said they will release insights for Q2 in “the coming weeks.”