[13/22] Audience Survey June 2022

Release: Immediate

9^th August 2022

PR 13/22

 

Audience Survey June 2022

 

The Broadcasting Authority is pleased to announce that it has just issued the results of the audience assessment survey carried out in June 2022. 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 Wednesday 8^th – Tuesday 14^th June 2022, 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, 2022).

 

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 compiled by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in their recent publication  “Census of Population and Housing 2021: Status report” (NSO, 18 March 2022). 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). 

 

Worthy of mention is that although the dates of assessment of this audience study were from Wednesday (8^th June) to Tuesday (14^th June), for sake of comparison with previous and future BA audience surveys, the research findings throughout the whole report are presented from Monday to Sunday. 

 

 

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

• 90% of Maltese residents are TV viewers. Of these, 54% watch both local and foreign TV, 26% watch local TV stations only and 9% watch foreign TV stations only.

• 2 in 3 Maltese residents are radio listeners (61%). This finding was observed across all age cohorts.

• 17% of Maltese residents watch online Maltese programmes, largely hailing from the younger age cohorts (12-30 years).

 

 

TV Viewership

 

Favourite genre for local TV programmes

 

• News is the most favourite genre for local TV programmes, with 72.3% indicating this as one of their favourite genres.  This genre was mentioned as one of the favourite genres by just at least 2 in 3 of TV viewers aged 31+ years.

• Drama is the second most favourite genre, with 45.7% indicating this as one of their favourite genres for local TV programmes.  This genre is significantly more popular amongst female TV viewers (68.2%) as opposed to male TV viewers (21.4%).

• Discussions and Current affairs is the third most favourite genre for local TV programmes, with 30% indicating this as one of their preferred genres.  

 

Most Followed TV Stations: Monday to Sunday

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 1881 TV viewers, 1 in 5 viewers (20.8%) said that they did not watch any television on the previous day. 

• TVM is the most watched TV station, with 47.9% of all 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) are the second most followed, with 34.4% having watched a foreign TV station on the previous day.

• ONE is the third most followed TV station, with 1 in 4 TV viewers (25.6%) 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 12.4% having watched this station on the previous day.  NET TV is also mostly followed by the older age cohort TV viewers aged 41+ years.

Exhibit 1 below depicts more details on the most following TV stations (Monday to Sunday).  

Exhibit 1 – Most followed TV stations (Monday to Sunday)

(Multiple-Response Q) (n=1881)

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 table do NOT total up to 100%.

Exhibit 1 illustrates the most followed TV stations during Week 8^th – 14^th June 2022.  

‘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 0.1%

Between Monday to Sunday.

Most Followed TV Timebands: Monday to Sunday

 

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 three most followed TV timebands from Monday to Sunday are:

• 20:00 - 20:30  (216,796 TV viewers)

• 21:00 - 21:30  (172,176 TV viewers)

• 20:30 - 21:00  (169,751 TV viewers).

 

Favourite Local TV Programme

• 13.9% do not have a favourite local TV programme.

• TVM’s news bulletin is the most favourite local TV programme of 13.5% of all local TV viewers.  Worthy of mention is the TVM news bulletin was largely watched on station TVM and not on TVMnews+. However, on Thursday and Sunday of the week of assessment in question, TVMnews+’s audience share during the 20:00 news bulletin was higher than usual, given that this bulletin (on TVMnews+) was followed by EUFA Nations league football matches.

• Liquorish is the second most favourite TV programme with 11% of all 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 Tables 1 and 2 below.

 

• On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, the highest daily average audience share was obtained by foreign station (any), attaining a daily average TV viewership ranging between 11,615 – 14769, which is equivalent to a percentage average daily TV viewership between 29.6% - 40.4% on these days. On all four days, TVM followed second with a daily average TV viewership ranging between 8,551 – 9,422 (20.9% - 28.9%).

• On Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, the highest daily average audience share was attained by TVM with a daily average TV viewership ranging between 11,093 – 16,164 (30.2% -  43.5%).

 

 

 

Table 1 – Q8 –  TV - Population Average Audience Share By Weekday and By Station

 

 Table 2 – Q8 –  TV – Percentage Average Audience Share By Weekday and By Station

 

Note: TV stations with ‘zero/0%’ audience on a particular weekday in the Table above denotes that their viewership (on that day) was too low to be captured. 

 

 

Population Weekly Average Audience Share by TV Station

 

From Table 2 above, the weekly average percentage audience share by TV Station may be derived. Foreign station (any) has a weekly average audience share of 31.1%. Among the local TV stations, TVM has the highest weekly average percentage audience share, standing at 29.5%, followed by ONE at 17.5%. More detailed findings may be found in Exhibit 2 below.

 

 

 Exhibit 2 – Weekly Average Percentage Audience Share by TV station

NOTE:  % figures illustrated below are derived from Table 2 above

 

 

Types of TV reception services used for watching TV

 

• 92.5% of all 1881 TV viewers, use ‘Paid Subscription’ as one of the reception services for watching TV.  This is the most used reception service for watching TV across all age groups.

• 9% make use of ‘IPTV’ as one of the reception services, whilst 7.7% use the ‘Android Box’.  

• 1.1% use ‘free-to-air’ as one of the reception services for watching TV.

Radio Listenership

Most Followed Radio Stations: Monday to Sunday

 

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. 18.1% of radio listeners indicated that they did not listen to radio on the previous day. 

 

• Bay is the most followed radio station, with 20.5% 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 cohorts, with most of its listeners being radio listeners aged 12 – 30 years.

• Calypso Radio 101.8FM is the second most followed radio station with an audience of 13.1%.  Calypso Radio was mentioned largely by radio listeners aged 41+ years, as one of the radio stations they had listened to on the previous day.

• Vibe FM and One Radio are the third and fourth most followed radio stations with a respective audience of 12.6% and 12.4%.

 

Exhibit 3 below depicts more details on the most following TV stations (Monday to Sunday).  

 

Exhibit 3 – Q14 – Most followed Radio stations (Aggregate)

(Multiple-Response Q) (n= 1285)

NOTE: Respondents were given the possibility of mentioning up to 3 Radio Stations which they had listened to

on the previous day.  Hence, the percentages depicted in this table do NOT total up to 100%.

 

Most Followed Radio Timebands: Monday to Sunday

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, across all radio stations, the three most followed radio timebands from Monday to Sunday are:

• 08:00 – 08:30 (118,431 radio listeners)

• 08:30 – 09:00 (108,641 radio listeners)

• 09:00 – 09:30 (105,246 radio listeners).

 

 

Favourite Local Radio Programme

 

• 11.9% of radio listeners do not have a preferred local radio programme.

• Bay Breakfast with Daniel & Ylenia is the most favourite local radio programme, with 17.1% mentioning it as their preferred local radio programme.  This radio programme is largely preferred by the younger age cohorts, 12-40 years.

• The Morning Vibe with Abel, JD & Martina with 8% and Bongu Calypso ma’ Twanny Scerri with 7.7% are the second and third most favourite local radio programmes. The former is listened to by the younger age cohorts (under 40 years old) and the latter is popular with the older age cohorts (41+ years old). 

 

Population Average Audience Share by Weekday and by Station

 

From the daily radio listenership findings presented, 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 Tables 3 and 4 below.

 

The highest population daily average audience shares were obtained by ONE Radio and Calypso Radio 101.8FM on various weekdays, namely (average daily audience shares in figures and percentages):

• ONE Radio: Monday: 3353 (19.8%), Tuesday: 5268 (25.7%), Thursday: 3257 (25.4%) and Saturday: 3065 (26.9%)

• Calypso Radio 101.8FM: Wednesday: 3991 (23.7%), Friday: 3448 (23.9%) and Sunday: 2554 (34.2%).

 

Table 3 -  Q14  –  RADIO - Population Average Audience Share By Weekday and By Station

 

 

Table 4 -  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.