Surveys conducted to determine audience figures for various media in Arab countries has found that an Arabic television service for Christians in the Middle East and North Africa has a significant audience in the Arab world.
According to Cyprus-based SAT-7, surveys conducted by the audience research firm Intermedia finds that the ministry has 5-6 million regular or occasional viewers and 2-3 million devoted weekly viewers in the Arab world.
"We are glad to have this new scientific evidence, reconfirming earlier research, and what we have long said, that we have a substantial audience in the Arab world," said Terence Ascott, CEO of SAT-7.
"We receive over 1,000 e-mails, letters or phone calls every month from viewers who have been impacted by the ministry of SAT-7, but it is well known that one cannot judge audience size by responses – there is really no correlation between the two. Now we have new factual, researched data confirming we have a large group of viewers we never hear from, but who enjoy watching the channel and therefore have the opportunity to be touched by the love of God through programs airing on SAT-7."
The surveys conducted by Intermedia also included popular Arabic channels such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabia. According to SAT-7, the findings are based on surveys conducted on the phone or in person in mid to late 2004. Nationwide surveys were conducted in the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait and Jordan. Urban areas were surveyed in Morocco and Syria.
"This is a significant achievement for a channel of this kind," said Dr. Graham Mytton, Research Consultant and former Director of Audience Research for the BBC World Service.
After reviewing the raw Intermedia data from the eight surveyed countries, Mytton had extrapolated the figures for the entire Arab world, and estimates that at least 10 million people in Arab nations are aware of SAT-7, 5-6 million are occasional viewers, and 2-3 million are watching daily or at least once a week.
SAT-7 believes the numbers are likely to be even higher.
"Algeria, a country in which SAT-7 did well in a 2001 survey and which consistently receives a high number of viewer responses, was not included in these surveys," SAT-7 reported.
The ministry also noted that Arabs in Europe, which are rapidly increasing in number and also constitute a significant number of SAT-7’s regular response group, were also not included. Additionally, children under age 15 could not be included in the surveys. Also, SAT-7 believes that some of those contacted by the survey groups were unlikely to feel comfortable answering questions about a minority Christian channel in a majority Muslim region, and were therefore less likely to reveal their true viewing habits.
"Because of these important factors, SAT-7 believes the overall numbers generated by the recent study are very conservative," the ministry reported.
Despite this, the ministry expressed its approval of the new statistics.
Hamlet Kim
Christian Today Correspondent
