Vision Group papers top market

By Raymond Baguma

THE Vision Group newspaper titles have recorded tremendous market performance, with the flagship New Vision, Bukedde and Sunday Vision titles emerging as leaders in the newspaper market.

This is according to the independent Uganda All Media Products and Services Survey (UAMPS) carried out by Synovate,a reputable research firm, between October and December last year.

According to the survey, in the weekly newspaper portfolio, Sunday Vision, Orumuri, Saturday Vision, Etop and Rupiny lead in the market. It also showed that Bukedde is the leading vernacular paper in the country.

At the time of the survey, the overall newspaper readership across the country was at 5,800,983 readers within a seven-day period. Of these, 64% of the respondents read New Vision. However, the percentage goes up when you consider those who just paged through the paper.

New Vision is the English paper most read from cover to cover.

Also, 44% of the respondents read through Bukedde newspaper, which dominates as the most engaging daily newspaper. The percentage rises to 57% when you consider those who paged through Bukedde.

The survey also showed that Bukedde is the most read paper, with 27% of respondents reporting that they read it from cover to cover.

Regarding the newspaper readership over the past seven days, 64% of the sampled audience said they had read New Vision, while 44% said they had read Bukedde newspaper. Also, 14% said that they had read Sunday Vision, the leading weekly paper.

Vision Group publishes dailies and weeklies which include New Vision, as well as the vernacular daily Bukedde.

The weeklies include Kampala Sun, Saturday Vision, Sunday Vision and the other vernacular titles of Orumuri, Etop and Rupiny.

The findings by the Synovate survey prove the recent Audit Bureau of Circulation of South Africa (ABC) figures which show that the New Vision title and its related print products remain dominant in the Ugandan media market.

According to the November ABC figures, among then daily newspapers, New Vision circulates 33,312 copies while Bukedde has a total circulation of 31,128 copies.

Both titles are ahead of the rival Daily Monitor which circulates 22,531 copies. Among the weekly newspapers, Sunday Vision circulates a total of 28,420 copies ahead of Sunday Monitor which circulates a total of 17,645 copies.

Vision Group’s chief commercial officer Tony Glencross said while the ABC figures follow international measurement practices to provide the exact number of copies sold daily, the UAMPS measures the number of people who actually read a newspaper copy.

“The two measurements work in conjunction with each other. The research will show the ages, gender, and measures of the readers. And advertisers are interested in knowing the people you reach and who they are,” Glencross said.

Vision Group’s head of sales Godfrey Mulengi said: “The research shows that our audiences across all our platforms spend a longer time reading, which means greater advertising message effectiveness.”