Audience Reception


Quantitative and qualitative analysis indicate that Soul Buddyz is relevant to its primary target audience, that messages largely come across accurately and that message retention is high.

• 4 in 5 (81.2%) of the children who had watched Soul Buddyz on television felt that the episodes that they had watched had helped them with the things that had happened in their lives.
• “Soul Buddyz - it is real.”
  [Metropolitan child]
  “Soul Buddyz is a bonus. It deals with real life issues and real life situations and makes them [children] more aware of things which are a reality.”
  [Metropolitan parent]
• 9 in 10 (92.9%) of the caregivers to have engaged with the Soul Buddyz television and radio media felt that Soul Buddyz had given them a new understanding of the issues faced by children;

When asked to rank the first, second and third most enjoyable programmes amongst a pre-determined list of children and youth programmes on South African television, almost 2 in 3 (65.2%) of the children to have watched or listened to Soul Buddyz, ranked the programme as the most enjoyable.

Most parents / caregivers (86.9%) approved of the Soul Buddyz programming, with less than six percent (5.6%) of caregivers maintaining that they did not want their children exposed to Soul Buddyz on either radio or television because they disapproved of the programme.

Audience evaluation of Soul Buddyz is very positive across audience segments: both children and adults comment positively on the educational character of Soul Buddyz.

• Soul Buddyz is overtly valued for impacting positively on a range of lifeskills (e.g. general problem-solving skills, eliciting support from one's environment, and building / teaching a constructive value system – such as the value of helping each other, the value of friendship, respect and equality).
  “I like Soul Buddyz because it teaches me what is right and what is wrong.”
  “Soul Buddyz teaches us about life.”
  [Peri-urban children]
• Soul Buddyz is seen to be contributing to knowledge and skills within specific content areas; such as children's rights, safety, HIV/AIDS and sexuality.
• Parents particularly emphasized the perception that Soul Buddyz facilitates easier communication between parent and child. 9 in 10 (90.5%) felt that Soul Buddyz made it easier for them to discuss difficult and sensitive issues with their children or wards.
  “Soul Buddyz is a good teacher to our children and to our community. It is a community builder in a great way, and if it can be shown again, I can be one of the regular viewers with my children.”
  [Peri-urban parent]

When probing for dislikes of the programme (in both the quantitative as well as qualitative research) respondents by and large did not mention negative points. Those who did comment most often mentioned certain realities depicted in the programme as part of the edutainment strategy that either touched them or made them uncomfortable – for example the child abuse theme, when characters fight or are treated badly, when somebody gets hurt, depiction of youth sexuality issues etc.