PETALING JAYA, Feb 13 — According to the e-Conomy SEA 2020 report by Google, Temasek and Bain, Malaysians spent up to 4.8 hours a day online while they were cooped up at home last year.
This increased internet usage ranged from online activities including chatting, consuming entertainment and even shopping, as many Malaysians did their best to keep themselves busy and stay at home as much as possible.
With over 20.3 million weekly listeners, the radio industry continued to adapt to this digital migration as a recent GfK study showed that 97 per cent of Malaysians continue to consume radio from home.
In line with this trend, all Malaysians can continue to stream their favourite radio brands, music channels and podcasts online via the SYOK app.
“In conjunction with World Radio Day 2021, we are delighted that Malaysians continue to enjoy high-quality live radio — anytime, anywhere — as well as SYOK Original videos, SYOKcasts (podcasts), contests, articles, news and traffic updates on the SYOK app,” said Astro Radio content head Aaron Pinto in a press release.
“SYOK continues to chart growth in an upward trajectory with an average growth of 5.72 per cent in monthly average users to 410,000 as at October 2020.”
Pinto added that Astro Radio was also continuously evolving its 11 brands housed under the SYOK app to remain relevant to its fans and also do its best to help out local businesses during this difficult time.
“During the pandemic, we acknowledged the struggles faced by many businesses trying to make ends meet and have been proactive in helping rebuild the lives of many Malaysians.
“Earlier this year, we set out to help rebuild local micro-businesses by offering free publicity through free commercial airtime and exposure on Astro Radio’s social media pages and websites,” said Pinto.
“We are happy to share we received more than 2,800 applicants from various local businesses across all our brands.”
The SYOK platform also successfully collaborated with e-commerce giant Shopee during the pandemic, to reward and entertain its consumers via online contests such as the SYOK Super Bonanza, where over 14,000 Malaysians tried their luck at winning RM15,000 worth of Shopee vouchers.
The success of that contest led to another collaboration for a Chinese New Year-themed contest called the SYOK Ang Pow Bonanza, which gave out Shopee vouchers as ang pow.
SYOK also explored collaborations with social media platforms such as TikTok to encourage social media users to pay homage to our frontliners using the #TerimaKasihHero hashtag, which received over 62,300 video submissions.
Pinto added that Astro Radio would continue to develop and introduce new features to the SYOK app including live streaming, offering increased opportunities for high-quality content and more collaborations with businesses.
“Through various SYOK content pillars, we also offer a myriad of advertising and sponsorship opportunities for our partners to engage with audiences. In 2019, the ‘Pepsi Beraya Sukan’ campaign on SYOK reached an estimated 5.8 million listeners and received 23,000 entries,” said Pinto.
“This was made possible with our comprehensive approach which utilised our talents on-ground and ultimately our prominent digital presence.
“Businesses can continue to explore opportunities across SYOK content pillars including the SYOKcasts podcasts, which has seen a tremendous increase in listenership during the movement control order.”
SYOK’s podcast category provides several different offerings for Malaysians to listen to including “Catch-Up Radio” and “SYOKcast Originals”.
“SYOKcast Originals” garnered more than 580,000 streams last year during the pandemic.
SYOK has also continued to grow its library of original SYOKcasts for its consumers, even during the pandemic, as they’ve introduced a variety of uniquely Malaysian show formats of different languages from talk shows to docu-dramas, featuring prominent local figures.
Some of the more recent SYOKcasts include Belang Harimau Besi, a collaboration between Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and the Malaysian Army, and Remang, Malaysia’s first horror Malay audio drama.
To enjoy exciting radio content this World Radio Day 2021, you can download the SYOK app for free on the Google Play Store, Apple App Store and Huawei App Gallery.
