Al Jazeera viewers base in Saudi Arabia is 5 times larger than United States Sponsored AlHurra's audience (page 1 of 2)

The results also revealed that Arab SAT TV Viewers in Saudi Arabia have little trust in AlHurra News Channel. In contrast Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya news channels have much higher credibility amongst a much larger viewers base. The survey covered all channels viewed in Saudi Arabia be they news, music, sports and general entertainment. Radio listening patterns were also covered by the survey.

The Arab Advisors Group is pleased to announce that a major multi client survey of households in Saudi Arabia that use and view Satellite TV Channels has just been concluded. With a sample size of 134 households, the random sample survey has a 95% confidence level with a less than 9% margin of error. The survey's fieldwork in Saudi Arabia has been finalized and its final report will be ready on September 15th.

The survey report is available for Arab Advisors Group's Subscribers for US$ 2000. Non-Subscribers to Arab Advisors Group's Strategic Research Services can order the survey report for US$ 2500.

Companies that pre-order the report before September 7th, 2004, get a 25% discount on the list price (i.e. US$ 1500 for subscribers, US$ 1875 for non-subscribers)

The survey indicates that close to 16% of Arab households in Saudi Arabia have a Pay TV subscription. The survey results show the market shares between the main Pay TV operators, ART, Orbit and Showtime.

90% of surveyed households indicated that they prefer to watch Sat TV programming in Arabic, or with Arabic subtitles. Only 10% prefer the English language.

The survey probed the brand name recognition of Sat TV channels in Saudi Arabia as well as the extent to which these channels are viewed. It covered the brand name recognition and viewer ship patterns the general entertainment channels (such as MBC, LBC, Future, etc.), the music channels (such as Rotana, Melody, Mezzika, etc.), Religious Programming Channels (such as Iqraa, Al Majd, etc.) and news channels.

On the news channels front, Al Jazeera topped the ranks in brand recognition and viewers with close to 82% of households watching the station. Al Jazeera is closely followed by Al Arabiya with 75% of households watching it. The Saudi Al Ekhbaria is viewed by 33% of households, while United States-sponsored Al Hurra is watched by 16% of households. CNN followed with 12% followed by Al Mustakila (11%), ANN (8%), NBN (8%), and BBC World (6%).

Close to 70% of respondents said that Al Arabiya is very trustworthy or trustworthy. Less than 1.5% indicated that they viewed the channel as not trustworthy. The remaining had no opinion on the level of trustworthiness of the station.

For Al Jazeera, 69% of respondents said that the channel is very trustworthy or trustworthy. Less than 3% indicated that they viewed the channel as not trustworthy. The remaining had no opinion on the level of trustworthiness of the station.

As for Al Hurra, only 17% of respondents said that the channel is very trustworthy or trustworthy. A full 20% indicated that they viewed the channel as not trustworthy. The remaining had no opinion on the level of trustworthiness of the station.

"This major survey of Sat TV viewers in Saudi Arabia is one of many surveys that the Arab Advisors Group intends to make across the region in the near future. The Arab Advisors Group mission is to continue providing all interested parties with reliable and insightful primary research and analysis of the Arab World's media and telecoms markets" Mr. Jawad Jalal Abbassi, Arab Advisors Group Founder and President commented.