Release: Immediate
Date: 12 December 2017
PR 17/17
BA SURVEY REGISTERS RADIO AND TELEVISION INCREASE
The Broadcasting Authority has released the audience assessment survey for October 2017.
The survey reveals that the average amount of hours that TV viewers spent watching television amounts to 1.55hrs every day. This was 1’12” less than that of the previous assessment during the month of July [1.57hrs].
When this average is computed over the whole population the National Average rose from 0.90hrs for July to 1.11hrs for October 2017. This means that although television viewing on average was maintained there were more consumers watching television.
During the month of October an average of 244,000 persons, or 64.7% of the population aged 16 years and over followed at least one TV station. This represented an increase of 13.7% over that of July [51.0%; ≈191,000 persons].
Radio listeners have spent an average of 2.79hrs listening to their radio set. Compared to the previous assessment of July 2017 [2.91hrs] this was 7’12” less. Comparing the National Average for October [1.68hrs] with that of the previous assessment of July [1.41hrs] this was 16’12” higher; and the number of persons who followed a radio station increased by 7.2% from 178,000 for July to 207,000 in October.
Data was collected by the National Statistics Office during the month of October and 35.6% of all contacted persons accepted to participate. A sample of 1,240 was collected with the youngest interviewed being 16 years old while the eldest person contacted was 95 years old.
TV Audience Reach
TVM remains the most popular station with 38% followed by ONE [16.8%] and Net TV [9.4%]. Overall 67.3% of all viewers followed a local station while the other 32.7% followed a foreign station.
As in other previous surveys, TV audiences tend to peak between 7:30pm and 10:00pm.
By demographics the same trend in ranking follows. However it is evident that the viewing of local stations is higher with those over the age of 50 years while the viewing of foreign stations is higher with those from 16 to 50 years old.
TV reception service
As much as 64.6% of the population follows television through a paid subscription while only 3.9% of the population [≈20,800] follows programmes on the Free-to-air platform. Of this latter group, 52.3% [≈10,900] have solely a Free-to-air connection while the rest [47.47%; ≈9,600] also make use of one or more of the services available.
TV Programme Genres
Respondents were asked what type of programme they like to watch on local television. Local and Foreign News were the most favorite programme genre [26.3%] followed by local Drama programmes [15.6%], while Discussion & Current Affairs programmes ranked third [13.0%].
When analysed by gender, male preferences exceeded those of females in two categories [Sports (+10.5%) and Documentaries (+3.0%)]; female preferences exceed those of males in Drama (+7.4%); Light Entertainment (+2.9%); Religious programmes (+3.0%), and Teleshopping [+2.2%].
There was very little gender difference for News Local & Foreign (+2.0%); Discussion programmes (+1.7%); Music Videos (+0.2%); Children’s programmes (+0.9%); and Cultural/Educational programes (+0.9%].
Radio Audiences
Bay Radio remains the most popular station with 25.1% of all radio listeners followed by ONE Radio [14.8%] and Vibe FM [11.2%]. Bay Radio was the most followed station by all those under fifty years old – with more than half [57.48%] of 16-30 year olds and about a third of all 31-50 year olds [32.49%] following this station. ONE Radio is popular with those who are above the age of 50 with just below a quarter [23.7%] of all 51-70 year olds and just about a third of all 70+ year olds [30.3%] following this station.
Computing audience shares by the amount of time that radio listeners have spent following each particular station, the results reveal that while Bay Radio is the most popular station in Malta, its listeners spend an average of 2.24hrs tuned in to the station whereas ONE Radio listeners spend 3.51hrs.
DAB+
Respondents were asked whether they have a DAB+ radio set to listen to radio. Only 13.4% replied that they had a digital radio set; 80.2% do not; 4.2% of respondents did not know what kind of radio-set they had; while 2.2% replied that they do not have any radio-set whatsoever.
Two-thirds [66.6%] of those who stated that they have a DAB+ radio-set replied that they only listen to local stations; another 7.4% use such radio-set to listen to only foreign stations; while a further 4.0% stated that although they have a DAB+ radio-set they do not use this set to follow radio.
Children watching TV
Out of all the respondents only 7.8% replied that they have children between 9 and 15 years old. As much as 2.4% [9,000] of all respondents categorically replied that their children between the ages of 9-15 years do not watch television.
The responses were grouped into twelve difference categories and analysed by the age groups of respondents. The most quoted were Children’s programmes [59.2%]; followed by Entertainment [12.4%] and Cultural/Educational programmes [9.18%].
Click here for Press Release 17/17
Click here for the full Assessment of October 2017
Click here for previous assessments