Release: Immediate
9th October 2023
PR 04/23
Audience Survey July 2023
The Broadcasting Authority is pleased to announce that it has just issued the results of the audience assessment survey carried out in the last week of July 2023. The object of this periodic audience assessment survey is to assess the viewer/listenership of TV, radio and online content and identify the preferred source of local news amongst Maltese residents aged 12+ years. The dates of assessment comprised between Sunday 23rd - Saturday 29th July 2023, both dates inclusive. The survey was conducted by M. FSADNI & Associates.
Research Methodology
For this audience survey wave, the survey sample comprised 2,100 completed interviews. A total of 300 interviews per day were conducted over 7 consecutive days with Maltese residents aged 12+ years, hailing from Malta’s six geographical regions (NSO, 2023).
The aggregate 2100-count audience survey sample produced statistically significant findings at a +/-2.13 confidence interval (margin of error) at a 95% confidence level.
The daily 300-count audience survey sample produced statistically significant findings at a +/-5.66 confidence interval (margin of error) at a 95% confidence level.
All interviews were conducted by CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviews), using a structured research instrument to compile the data.
The research findings for TV viewership and radio listenership were extrapolated to reflect Malta’s population. This was calculated on the most recent population statistics, as outlined by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in their recent publication “Census of Population and Housing 2021 Final Report, Volume 1” (NSO, 2023). For this extrapolation exercise, non-TV viewers and non-radio listeners were proportionately deducted from Malta’s population of individuals aged 12+ years (N=459,781).
Salient Research Findings
A synopsis of the salient research findings emanating from the audience survey now follows.
TV Viewership, Radio Listenership & Online Viewership – An Overview
- 88.2% of Maltese residents are TV viewers. Of these, 64% watch both local and foreign TV, 18.2% watch local TV stations only and 6% watch foreign TV stations only.
- 2 in 3 Maltese residents are radio listeners (64.4%). This finding was observed across all age cohorts.
- 19.6% of Maltese residents watch online Maltese programmes (solely produced for online portals).
- A. TV Viewership
Favourite genre for local TV programmes
- News is the most favourite genre for local TV programmes, with 84.5% indicating this as one of their favourite genres. This genre was mentioned as one of the favourite genres by all seven age cohorts.
- Drama is the second most favourite genre, with 42.7% indicating this as one of their favourite genres for local TV programmes. This genre is significantly more popular amongst female TV viewers (66.4%) than male TV viewers (19.1%).
- Discussions and Current affairs is the third most favourite genre for local TV programmes, with 33.9% indicating this as one of their preferred genres.
Most Followed TV Stations
- All of Malta’s TV Viewers were given the possibility of mentioning up to three TV stations they watched on the previous day. Out of a total of 1852 TV viewers, 18% of TV viewers across all age cohorts said that they did not watch any television on the previous day.
- TVM is the most watched TV station by 45.6% of all local TV viewers mentioning TVM as one of the three TV stations they watched on the previous day. TVM is, in fact, the most watched local station across all age cohorts and gender.
- ‘Foreign stations (any)’ is a distant most followed second, with 19.1% of all local TV viewers having watched a foreign TV station on the previous day.
- ONE is the third most followed TV station, with 17.2% of all TV viewers mentioning ONE as one of the TV stations they watched on the previous day. ONE is mostly followed by the older age cohort TV viewers aged 41+ years.
- NET TV is the fourth most followed TV station, with 16.2% having watched this station on the previous day. This finding is evident across all 7 age cohorts and gender.
Exhibit I below depicts more details on the most followed TV stations.
Exhibit I – Most followed TV stations (Sunday to Saturday)
(Multiple-Response Q) (n=1852)
Note: Respondents were given the possibility of mentioning up to 3 TV Stations which they had watched on the previous day. Hence, the percentages depicted in this Exhibit do NOT total up to 100%.
Exhibit I illustrates the most followed TV stations during Week 23rd – 29th July 2023.
‘Did not watch any TV on the previous day’ refers to TV viewers who did not watch TV
on the day of assessment during that particular week.
Note: TV stations not featured in the Exhibit above have a TV viewership of less than 0.2%
Between Sunday to Saturday.
Most Followed TV Timebands
- All TV Viewers (excluding TV viewers who did not watch TV on the date of assessment) were asked to indicate all timebands during which they watched the three mentioned TV stations (including foreign stations) on the previous day. The most followed TV timeband from Sunday to Saturday is:
- 20:00 - 20:30 (230,328 TV viewers).
Favourite Local TV Programme
- TVM’s news bulletin is the most favourite local TV programme of 14.6% of all local TV viewers. Worthy of mention is the TVM news bulletin was largely watched on station TVM and not on TVMnews+, unless TV viewers plan to watch a programme on the latter station, straight after the news bulletin.
- TVMSport+’s football matches (various) (7.9%), ONE’s News Bulletin (5.2%) and NET TV’s News Bulletin (3.8%) all proved to be among the most favourite local TV programmes with local TV viewers.
Population Average Audience Share by Weekday and by Station
- From the daily TV viewership findings, the population average audience share by weekday and by station was drawn up. This daily average audience share has been derived by totalling the aggregate daily viewership obtained by each TV station and dividing this by the number of timeslots. This daily average audience share for each TV station has been presented in figures and percentages, depicted in Exhibits II and III below. ‘Foreign stations (various)’ is excluded from the ‘local TV station’ daily audience share ranking below.
- TVM obtained the highest daily average audience share every day between Saturday and Wednesday, attaining a daily average TV viewership ranging between 8,078 – 10,824, equivalent to a percentage average daily TV viewership between 25.5% - 30.9% on these days.
- NET TV obtained the highest daily average audience share on Thursday and Friday, attaining a daily average TV viewership of 6,801 and 6,035 respectively, equivalent to a percentage average daily TV viewership of 21.5% and 17.5% on these days.
Exhibit II – Q8 – TV - Population Average Audience Share By Weekday and By Station
Exhibit III – Q8 – TV – Percentage Average Audience Share By Weekday and By Station
Note: TV stations with ‘zero/0%’ audience on a particular weekday in the Exhibit above denotes that their viewership (on that day) was too low to be captured.
Population Weekly Average Audience Share by TV Station
The weekly average percentage audience share by TV Station may be derived from Exhibit III above. The local TV station with the highest weekly average percentage audience share is TVM standing at 24.8%, followed by NET TV (16.6%), ONE (14.8%) and TVMSport+ (11.6%). ‘Foreign stations (various)’ is excluded from this ‘local TV station’ weekly audience share ranking. More detailed findings may be found in Exhibit IV below.
Exhibit IV – Weekly Average Percentage Audience Share by TV station
Note: % figures illustrated below are derived from Exhibit III above
Types of TV reception services used for watching TV
- 93% of all 1852 TV viewers, use ‘Paid Subscription (Melita/GO/Epic)’ as one of the reception services for watching TV. This is the most used reception service for watching TV across all age groups.
- 10% make use of ‘IPTV’ as one of the reception services, whilst 6.3% use the ‘Android Box’.
- 0.9% use ‘free-to-air’ as one of the reception services for watching TV.
B. Radio Listenership
Most Followed Radio Stations
- All radio listeners (excluding radio listeners who did not listen to radio on the dates of assessment) were given the possibility of mentioning up to three radio stations they had listened to on the previous day. Out of a total of 1351 radio listeners, 15.7% did not listen to radio on the previous day.
- Bay is the most followed radio station, with 13.3% of all radio listeners mentioning it as one of the three radio stations they had listened to on the previous day. Bay is largely popular with the younger age cohorts (aged 12 - 40 yrs).
- A close second is ONE Radio with 13.2%, followed by Calypso 101.8 with 12.8%.
Exhibit V below depicts more details on the most followed Radio stations.
Exhibit V – Q14 – Most followed Radio stations (Aggregate)
(Multiple-Response Q) (n= 1351)
Note: Respondents were given the possibility of mentioning up to 3 Radio Stations they had listened to
on the previous day. Hence, the percentages depicted in this Exhibit do NOT total up to 100%.
Most Followed Radio Timebands
- All local radio listeners (excluding radio listeners who did not listen to radio on the dates of assessment) were asked to indicate all timebands during which they listened to the three mentioned radio stations (including foreign stations) on the previous day. Overall, the two most followed radio timebands are:
- 07:00 – 07:30 (153,698 radio listeners)
- 07.30 – 08:00 (130,490 radio listeners).
Favourite Local Radio Programme
- Bay Breakfast with Daniel & Ylenia is the most favourite local radio programme, with 11.8% mentioning it as their preferred local radio programme. This radio programme is largely preferred by the younger age cohorts, 12-40 years.
- Bongu Calypso ma’ Twanny Scerri with 7.4% and Magic AM with 6.5% are the second and third most favourite local radio programmes. Following, Bongu NET and The Morning Vibe with Abel, JD & Martina obtained 5.8% and 5.5% of preferences, respectively.
- 14.8% of radio listeners do not have a preferred local radio programme.
Population Average Audience Share by Weekday and by Station
- From the daily radio listenership findings, the population average audience share by weekday and by station were drawn up. This daily average audience share has been derived by totalling the aggregate daily listenership obtained by each radio station and dividing this by the number of timeslots. This daily average audience share for each radio station has been presented in figures and percentages and the weekly average percentage audience share by radio station are depicted in Exhibits VI and VII below.
- The highest population daily average audience shares were obtained by Radju Marija, NET FM, Calypso 101.8 and ONE Radio on various weekdays, namely (average daily audience shares in figures and percentages):
- Radju Marija: Sunday: 5,875 (18%)
- NET FM: Monday: 6,290 (16%) and Thursday: 7,088 (20%)
- Calypso 101.8: Tuesday: 7,312 (19%) and Wednesday: 7,248 (20%)
- ONE Radio: Friday: 6,737 (20%) and Saturday: 7,152 (25%)
Table 32A - Q14 – RADIO - Population Average Audience Share By Weekday and By Station
Table 32B - Q14 – RADIO – Percentage Average Audience Share By Weekday and By Station
Note I: Radio listeners were given the possibility of mentioning up to 3 radio stations on the weekday in question. For each radio station, these radio listeners were asked
to indicate all time slots during which they listened to the mentioned radio station. (Multiple-response Q)
Note II: Radio stations with a “zero/%” audience on a particular weekday in the Table above denotes that their listenership (on that day) was too low to be captured.
Population Weekly Average Audience Share by Radio Station
- From Exhibit VII above, the weekly average percentage audience share by Radio Station may be derived. The local radio station with the highest weekly average percentage audience share is Calypso 101.8 standing at 18%, followed by ONE Radio (17%) and NET FM (14%).
Exhibit VIII – Weekly Average Percentage Audience Share by Radio Station
Note I: % figures illustrated below are derived from Exhibit VII above
Note II: Radio stations not depicted in this graphical illustration denotes that their listenership was too low to be captured
Types of Radio Reception Services used for Listening to Radio
- 97% of all radio listeners use the radio set (at home, office, in car) as one of the radio reception services for listening to radio. This is the most used radio reception service by radio listeners across all age groups.
- 15.3% listen to radio via live streaming on mobile, tablet, laptop, PC.
- 7.3% use DAB+ as one of the radio reception services for listening to radio, with this being mostly used by radio listeners aged 12 – 50 years old.
C. Online Viewership
Note: Explanation of Terms
- Online Maltese programmes
The term ‘online Maltese programmes’ refers to Maltese audiovisual programmes/content produced to be solely shown on online portals and which cannot be watched on traditional TV.
- Assessing Online Programmes/Audiovisual Content on local Online portals
With reference to local online portals, it is worthy of mention that this audience survey focuses solely at assessing the viewership levels of Maltese programmes and audiovisual content produced locally and shown on these portals. This survey does not assess the readership levels of local online portals.
Online Viewership
- 80.4% of all Maltese residents do not watch any Maltese programmes/audiovisual content that are solely produced for online portals.
- The remaining 19.6% do watch online Maltese programmes/audiovisual content.
Online Portals or Platforms Used for Watching Maltese Programmes Online
- Facebook is the most used platform for watching online Maltese programmes/audiovisual content, with 74% mentioning it as one of the online platforms used for watching Maltese programmes online. This finding is evident across all age cohorts.
- Following, 27.4% use timesofmalta.com and 22.8% use Youtube.
Exhibit IX – Q19 – Online portal/s or platform/s used for watching Maltese programmes online (Multiple-Response Q) (n=412)
NOTE: The %s below refer to the number of respondents and NOT to the number of responses,
hence they do not total up to 100%
Most Used Device For Watching Preferred Programme Online/Audiovisual Content
- Mobile is the most used device for online viewers to watch their preferred programme online/audiovisual content, with 86.7% indicating this device as their most used device. Mobile is the most used device across all age cohorts and gender.
- Following, 6.6% and 5.8% of online viewers use tablet and laptop, respectively.
Most Preferred Programme Online/Audiovisual Content
- 36.9% of all online viewers do not have a preferred local online programme/audiovisual content, while 4.6% have more than one preferred programme.
- Jon Mallia Podcasts are preferred by 21.8% of all online viewers.
- Times of Malta (Mark Lawrence Zammit) is preferred by 13.3% of online viewers.
- D. Preferred Source For Local News
- Television is the preferred source for local news by 49.9% of all Maltese residents.
- Facebook is preferred by 22.1%, whilst 20.6% prefer Online news portals as their preferred source for local news.
- 3.4% use Radio as their preferred source for local news.
Exhibit X – Preferred Source for Local News
Preferred Source to Obtain Local News
Television is the most preferred source of local news followers to obtain local news, with 49.9% of all Maltese residents mentioning television as their preferred source.
- 1 in 2 (51.9%) of all those whose preferred source for obtaining local news is ‘Television’, mentioned TVM as their most preferred local TV station for watching local news. TVM is the most preferred station for local news by individuals across all age groups.
- ONE is the second most preferred local TV station for watching local news, with 23.1% mentioning this station as their preferred local station for watching local news.
- NET TV is the third most preferred local TV station for watching local news, and this was mentioned by 21.2% as the preferred local TV station for watching local news.
After Facebook, online news portals are the third most preferred source for obtaining local news, with 20.6% mentioning this as their preferred source for obtaining local news.
- 56% of all individuals who prefer local news portals for following local news, mentioned timesomalta.com as their preferred local news portal, making it the most preferred local news portal for following local news across all age groups and gender.
- 16% indicated that to follow local news, they use different online portals equally.
Radio is the fourth most preferred source for obtaining local news with 3.4%.
- 1 in 4 of individuals (26.8%) whose preferred source for obtaining local news is ‘Radio’, mentioned Radju Malta as their most preferred local radio station.
- 23.9% prefer Calypso 101.8 as their most preferred source for obtaining local news.
- 18.3% mentioned ONE Radio as their most preferred local radio to obtaining local news.
- Note: Due to the low number of responses (n=71), these findings should be interpreted with caution.
The full version of the results of the survey can be downloaded here.
9th October 2023