SINGAPORE — Local consumers spend more time watching MediaCorp TV than other sources of media content, according to the Media Consumer Experience Study for last year, commissioned by the Media Development Authority.

Over 1,700 respondents were interviewed from March to May last year on their consumption of media content and services across broadcast, print and online platforms.

MediaCorp TV programmes were the most widely watched last year. Consumers spent 16.5 hours per week watching free-to-air TV, compared to 4.6 hours for Starhub cable TV and 1.9 hours for SingTel mio TV.

The time using the Internet to access media-related websites increased to 12.9 hours per week last year, compared 6.8 hours in 2011.

MediaCorp remains the top source for local news at 91 per cent.

Mr Bernard Lim, managing director of television at MediaCorp, said: “It just goes to show that we are still relevant in whatever we do — programming makes sense, connects with the audience.

“And people are finding us relevant as a choice of medium for them to watch television. It is a very competitive industry, a very competitive market that we are in. Viewers have a lot of options and this is really an accolade.”

In terms of consumer satisfaction with local programmes, MediaCorp’s Channel NewsAsia scored the highest (79.1 per cent), followed by Vasantham (78.4 per cent) and Suria (76.5 per cent).

In terms of media content quality, 74.4 per cent of respondents were satisfied with programmes on free-to-air TV. As for variety of media content, 75 per cent of respondents were satisfied with the free-to-air TV programmes.

The national broadcaster says it will focus on better local content and sharing international best practices.

Mr Lim said: “Going forward, MediaCorp will continue to be relevant, to be local. Being local is something that we all will be focusing very much on, where we want to create channels for the MediaCorp stable that are uniquely Singapore for Singaporeans.

“And we will be looking towards collaborating with partners from overseas, trying to tap on their expertise, to learn from how they do certain things and to continuously generate ideas among ourselves to keep ourselves relevant and bring out our content for our viewers.”

Overall, consumers were satisfied with service providers in Singapore, including in areas such as reliability and service standards, said the survey. CHANNEL NEWSASIA