The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRC) has announced significant progress in developing the country’s new Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RAMS), with the study now having surpassed 29,000 respondents as Wave 4 fieldwork nears completion.
After completing its first three waves, RAMS has reached a cumulative sample of 29,380 respondents, exceeding the original three-wave target of 27,000.
The milestone means that more than 75% of the planned annual sample of 36,000 respondents has now been completed.
Wave 4 fieldwork is currently underway and is expected to conclude at the end of September 2026. Its completion will provide the new measurement system with its first full annual sample, an important step in developing South Africa’s next radio trading currency.
According to BRC CEO Gary Whitaker, the progress reflects an important milestone for the country’s radio and advertising industries.
“When we embarked on the new RAMS, our objective was not simply to replace the previous survey. We wanted to build a radio measurement currency that reflects South Africa today and provides the scale, methodological rigour and stability required by broadcasters, agencies and advertisers.
“With almost 30,000 respondents already represented across the first three waves, we are now approaching the completion of the first full annual sample. That is an important milestone, not only for the BRC but for the entire radio and advertising industry.
“The focus throughout this process has been on getting the foundations right. A trading currency carries a significant responsibility, and it is important that the industry can have confidence in the methodology, the sample and the governance behind the numbers.”
The BRC commissioned the new RAMS to establish an independent, robust and future-focused radio audience measurement currency for South Africa.
GfK, an NIQ company, was appointed to design and deliver the new service, bringing extensive experience in audience measurement across international markets.
The study is based on a national annual sample of 36,000 respondents, providing the scale needed to measure South Africa’s diverse radio market across different demographic groups, provinces and geographic areas.
GfK conducted the first three waves between September and November 2025, January and March 2026, and April and June 2026, respectively.
As additional waves have been incorporated, the sample has also strengthened in demographic groups that required further development, including White respondents, males and people aged 55 and above.
RAMS deliberately uses a disproportionate sample across metropolitan, urban and rural areas to ensure sufficient representation for meaningful analysis across different population groups.
The resulting data is then weighted to restore the appropriate population proportions, ensuring that the final outputs are representative of South Africa’s population.
Beyond measuring radio audiences, the scale of RAMS also provides an extensive view of South Africans aged 15 and older.
The current RAMS universe represents approximately 45.3 million South Africans aged 15+.
The demographic profile includes:
49% male and 51% female
22.4% aged 15–24
23.2% aged 25–34
21.8% aged 35–44
13.9% aged 45–54
9.6% aged 55–64
9.0% aged 65 and older
The population is geographically diverse, with Gauteng accounting for approximately 26.7% of the 15+ population, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 18.9%, Western Cape at 12.8%, and Eastern Cape at 10.8%.
Limpopo represents 9.4%, Mpumalanga 8.0%, North West 6.5%, Free State 4.8% and Northern Cape 2.1%.
This population dataset provides media planners, agencies and advertisers with a current, evidence-based picture of the South African population that extends beyond radio listening alone.
RAMS combines face-to-face recruitment with digital data collection to ensure broad participation across South Africa’s diverse population.
Across the first three waves, 85.3% of diaries were placed through face-to-face recruitment, while 14.7% were placed through online panels.
The blended approach is designed to accommodate differences in connectivity and digital participation across geographic and demographic groups.
The methodology is further supported by a comprehensive weighting framework that accounts for the disproportionate sample design and ensures the final dataset reflects the underlying population.
The BRC will provide further details on the RAMS release programme after completing and validating Wave 4.
The next phase will include confirmation of the reporting timeline and further developments arising from the methodological review process undertaken throughout the development of the new RAMS system.
The BRC has stressed that no radio audience, listening or station-level data is being released as part of this update.
Instead, the announcement is intended to update the industry on the progress of RAMS and the development of the population and sample foundation underpinning the new currency.
As the project moves towards completion of its first full annual sample, the BRC has thanked broadcasters, media agencies, advertisers and research partners for their continued engagement and support in establishing RAMS to the highest standards of audience measurement governance and technical rigour.
