Digital take up hits newspaper, TV numbers

Singapore - Newspapers and terrestrial TV are suffering readership declines as digital media consumption across Singapore continues to soar.These were figures shown in Nielsen's latest Media Index Report saying that while radio and magazines are yet to suffer from the rise of digital, newspaper readership and terrestrial TV viewer numbers are heading south."We've seen major shifts in the media landscape in Singapore," Rebecca Tan, managing director of Nielsen's media business, said.However, while Nielsen's numbers show a shift in consumption habits, Bharad Ramesh, Starcom's regional executive director of strategic operations and trading, said numbers were far worse than the survey indicates."Newspaper readership has crashed," Ramesh told Marketing."SPH's annual report shows the drop in circulation. No questions about it. Their display advertising revenue has dropped."Total TV viewing has dropped by 6% to 12% in the last 12 months depending on the demographic."Ramesh said MediaCorp's drop over a two year period is between 15% to 20%."Magazines face the same fate as newspapers. Adex data shows clearly that advertisers are moving from this medium," he added. "I would be surprised if TV ad revenues and yield grow this year as compared to last year."Tan said rapid technological developments, high-speed internet access, WiFi and increasing ownership of connected devices such as smartphones and tablets were behind the shift.Nielsen's survey was conducted between July 2011 to June 2012 and surveyed 4,662 of the Singapore population aged 15 and above on their media consumption.But Gary Tang, co-founder of The Media Shop, said the study's results were no cause for concern."In a small market like Singapore, the media consumption pattern has been generally stable in the past few years and will remain so in the next few years with no drastic shifts expected," he said.