[SatNews] YahLive, the UAE based satellite broadcasting company, has announced the results of a survey into the viewing habits of the Farsi speaking community.

The survey was conducted by IPSOS, the global market research company and consisted of several thousand interviews in Farsi of between 15 and 20 minutes.  The exercise produced 1,200 successful results used for onward analysis. Key features of the IPSOS survey participants:

• 76% of those surveyed were educated at least as far as secondary school
• 24% went on to obtain university degrees
• 70% are Farsi only speakers
• 86% said they watch TV every day
• 66% of those surveyed receive more than 20 channels and are therefore watching satellite TV

 
Key findings of viewing habits:

• The most watched content is Movies. 62% of respondents said that movies are what they watch most often.
• This was followed by News (61%), Series (54%) and Sports (30%)
• The biggest disparities between genders were Sport and Cookery: 48% of male participants said Sport was their preferred form of entertainment, but only 12% of female respondents said the same; by contrast, 14% of females surveyed put Cookery top of their list, compared with only 1% of males

 
Key attitudes to broadcasters:

• YahLive ranked above its local competitors in all main satisfaction metrics, with:
• The highest Retention Ratio (95%)
• The highest Mean Satisfaction Score (7.41, where 1 means Not Satisfied At All and 10 means Extremely Satisfied)
• The highest overall proportion of satisfied customers (73%)
• The highest Mean Recommendation Score (6.85 where 1 means Would Never Recommend and 10 means Would Definitely Recommend) lowest switching intention, with only 7% of those surveyed indicating that they might switch
  from YahLive

 
Separately, YahLive will be an Associate Sponsor of the CABSAT Nabshow 2015. Now in its 20th year, CABSAT is the largest trade show in the MENA region for Broadcasting, Satellite & Connected digital media. YahLive will be highly visible at CABSAT, not only through its stand at the show (located at D710 in Hall 7), but also through a “Connecting with Communities” panel discussion which it is hosting. Panel members include key figures from a range of international satellite businesses and media companies, including SES, MOBY, MBC, North Telecom and SSHC.
 
Using the IPSOS survey as a basis for discussion, the panel will start by examining how broadcasters, content generators and satellite operators are working together to effectively reach, engage, connect with, and interconnect different communities. It will then broaden the debate across a range of current industry issues, including changes being experienced in traditional advertising models, comparisons of viewing and data consumption habits around the world and the impact of audience segmentation.  The results of YahLive’s IPSOS survey will thus form an interesting backdrop to this discussion.
 
The panel will take place at the conference area (Hall 1) at 11.50am on Tuesday 10th March.
 
Sami Boustany, Chief Executive of YahLive, said, “These are interesting statistics, providing a unique and detailed insight into the habits of Farsi TV viewers. With more than 25 million viewers watching channels beamed by YahLive, this is an extremely meaningful and important survey because it shows how discerning viewers have become and how important it is to provide them with quality content. Connecting with communities is the backbone of our business, so the speed with which we have reached so many viewers in a single community endorses our strategy of presenting a tailored menu of premium channels to connect with them.  The high levels of satisfaction evident from the survey show that our choice of content partners, combined with our advanced delivery platform, is clearly working. These results give us great confidence that we can enjoy similar success in other diverse and culturally rich communities.”
 
Commenting on YahLive’s sponsorship of CABSAT, Mr. Boustany added, “CABSAT has become synonymous with connectivity in the region and their objectives resonate closely with our own. I look forward to welcoming industry participants to our stand and exchanging knowledge and ideas.  Our panel discussion will also generate a broad range of views on how we can most effectively achieve the industry’s common goal of connecting with communities around the world.”