Swaziland Newspapers

Newspapers are known for their news assimilation function, flash and provide current affairs analysis. There are around 600,000 people who read one or more newspapers per week in Swaziland and local newspapers have the highest proportion of readers.

The oldest newspaper in the kingdom, the Times of Swaziland, has the highest weekly readership with around 500,000 weekly readers. This is followed by The Times Sunday, which is part of the Times newspaper group, The Swazi Observer and The Swazi News, The Weekend Observe, respectively. South African newspapers with the largest readership in Swaziland include the Sowetan and the Sunday Times.

The newspaper can be obtained from various places in the kingdom. This includes at home, at work, public libraries, schools, reception areas, clinics, public transportation, etc. This means that there are more people reading a single copy than actually circulating. The average readership per copy is estimated to be 4 RPCs in all local newspapers.

In terms of readers within the 4 districts of the kingdom, Hhohho leads followed by Manzini, Lubombo and Shiselweni. Men read more between older ages, while younger women read more than their male counterparts. The number of newspaper readers in Swaziland peaks between the ages of 25 to 44, and the highest newspaper readers are men between the ages of 35 to 44.

During a survey by Knotell, a Swaziland-based full-service marketing company, it was found that overall, more men between the ages of 35 and 54 are more likely to read a newspaper than their female counterparts in Swaziland. Younger women between the ages of 10 and 24 are also likely to read more than their male counterparts. The Times of Swaziland is the most widely read of all age groups, with the highest being 25-44 years old. The Times Sunday is the second most widely read in the 35-44 age group, the Swazi Observer competing with the Sunday Times for Cume readership.

This information is taken from a media audience measurement report (Swazi-MAMS) available free of charge at http://www.infoshopswaziland.com. The survey was conducted by http://www.knotell.co.sz in all major areas of the kingdom. You can visit this page to check for updates on the exposure statistics of newspapers in Swaziland.