[08/21] Audience Survey May 2021




Release: Immediate

10th August 2021

PR 08/21

 

 

Audience Survey May 2021

 

The Broadcasting Authority is pleased to announce that it has just issued the results of the audience assessment survey carried out in May 2021.  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 May – Saturday 29th May 2021, both dates inclusive. The survey was conducted by M. FSADNI & Associates. 

 

Research Methodology

 

For this audience survey wave, the Broadcasting Authority decided to invest in more resources. The survey sample was increased to 2,100 completed interviews (as opposed to the 1240-count sample used for previous audience survey waves).  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, 2021).

 

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) and a structured research instrument was used 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 population statistics as outlined by the National Statistics Office (NSO) in their publication ‘World Population Day News Release’ (2020). NB. This was NSO’s most recent publication at the time of the fieldwork/data analysis.  To this end, for this extrapolation exercise, non-TV viewers and non-radio listeners were proportionately deducted from Malta’s population of individuals aged 12+ years (N=458,143). 

Worthy of mention is that although the dates of assessment of this audience study were from ‘a Sunday’ (23rd May) to ‘a Saturday’ (29th May), 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 follow.

 

TV Viewership, Radio Listenership & Online Viewership – An Overview

  •   87% of Maltese residents are TV viewers. Of these, 52% watch both local and foreign TV, 25% watch local TV stations only and 10% watch foreign TV stations only. 
  •   2 in 3 (62%) Maltese residents are radio listeners. 1.6% listen to foreign radio stations only. The remaining 38% do not listen to any radio at all. 
  •  17% of all Maltese residents watch online Maltese programmes (solely produced for online portals) on online portals/platforms.

 

TV Viewership

 

Favourite genre for local TV programmes

 

  • The news bulletin is the most favourite genre for local TV programmes, with 80% of all TV viewers indicating this as one of their favourite genres. 
  • Drama is the second most favourite genre, with 39% indicating this as one of their favourite genres for local TV programmes.  This genre is more popular amongst female TV viewers (52%) as opposed to male TV viewers (24%).
  • Discussions and Current Affairs is the third most favourite genre for local TV programmes, with 34% indicating this as one of their preferred genres.  This genre is mostly popular amongst TV viewers aged 31+ years. 
  • Variety and Documentaries both place as the fourth most favourite genre with 15% respectively of all TV viewers indicating them as one of their favourite 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 1830 TV viewers interviewed, 18.6% said that they did not watch any television on the previous day. 

  • TVM is the most watched TV station, with half of all TV viewers (50.6%) mentioning TVM as one of the three TV stations they watched on the previous day.  TVM is, in fact, the most watched station across all age cohorts and gender.
  • Foreign stations (any) are the second most followed, with 42.8% having watched a foreign TV station on the previous day.  In fact, foreign stations are the second most followed across all age cohorts and gender.    
  • ONE is the third most followed TV station, with 1 in 5 TV viewers (21.5%) 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 14.4% 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 – Most followed TV stations (Monday to Sunday)

(Multiple-Response Q) (n=1830)

NOTE I: 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 23rd – 29th May 2021. 

‘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 Monday to Sunday.

 


Most Followed TV Timebands: Monday to Sunday

 

All TV Viewers (excluding TV viewers who did not watch TV on the dates 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 (216,417 TV viewers)
  • 21:00 – 21:30 (180,638 TV viewers)
  • 20:30 – 21:00 (175,185 TV viewers)

 

Favourite Local TV Programme

      23% of 4 local TV viewers do not have a favourite local TV programme. 

      TVM’s news bulletin is the most favourite local TV programme of 15% of all local TV viewers.  Serataron is the second most favourite TV programme with 9% of local TV viewers, followed by Liquorish with 8%.

 

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 (in figures and percentages) is depicted in Tables 1 and 2 below.

  • The highest population daily average audience share was obtained by TVM, attaining a daily average TV viewership ranging between 8,304 - 15,462, Monday to Sunday. This is equivalent to a percentage average daily TV viewership between 23.5% - 46% (Monday to Sunday).
  • ONE and NET TV followed by obtaining a daily average TV viewership ranging between 2,768 - 8,463 and 1,877 – 4,900 respectively, Monday to Sunday. As a percentage, ONE’s daily average audience share ranged between 8.2% - 18.9% and NET TV’s daily share ranged between 5.6% - 11%.

 

 

 

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

Daily Average (n) 

TVM

ONE

NET TV

Smash

TVM 2

F Living

Xejk

iTV

Melita More

GO Stars

TSN 1-8

Foreign station (ANY)

I did not watch any TV/No particular station/Don't Remember

None

Total

Monday (n=266)

13,299

8,463

4,900

191

891

954

318

159

255

1,177

668

13,394

58,031

348,189

406,220

Tuesday (n=252)

13,808

6,363

4,327

127

1,368

700

414

64

286

95

445

15,367

54,977

316,119

384,840

Wednesday (n=264)

11,008

4,677

3,372

95

3,786

923

223

64

0

223

2,163

13,458

80,939

291,684

403,166

Thursday (267)

10,817

4,359

1,973

127

636

477

573

0

0

95

986

11,994

106,900

285,576

407,747

Friday (251)

15,462

2,768

1,877

0

414

732

191

0

0

0

764

11,390

106,900

262,669

383,313

Saturday (n=261)

8,304

3,277

3,022

223

3,054

286

318

0

0

0

1,082

15,717

128,280

255,033

398,584

Sunday (n=269)

13,426

5,345

3,372

0

700

350

255

0

95

0

2,004

16,671

94,683

308,483

410,802

 

 

Table 12 – Q8 –  TV – Percentage Average Audience Share By Weekday and By Station

 

TVM

ONE

NET TV

Smash

TVM 2

F Living

Xejk

iTV

Melita More

GO Stars

TSN 1-8

Foreign station (ANY)

Monday

29.8%

18.9%

11.0%

0.4%

2.0%

2.1%

0.7%

0.4%

0.6%

2.6%

1.5%

30.0%

Tuesday

31.8%

14.7%

10.0%

0.3%

3.2%

1.6%

1.0%

0.1%

0.7%

0.2%

1.0%

35.4%

Wednesday

27.5%

11.7%

8.4%

0.2%

9.5%

2.3%

0.6%

0.2%

0.0%

0.6%

5.4%

33.7%

Thursday

33.8%

13.6%

6.2%

0.4%

2.0%

1.5%

1.8%

0.0%

0.0%

0.3%

3.1%

37.4%

Friday

46.0%

8.2%

5.6%

0.0%

1.2%

2.2%

0.6%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

2.3%

33.9%

Saturday

23.5%

9.3%

8.6%

0.6%

8.7%

0.8%

0.9%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

3.1%

44.5%

Sunday

31.8%

12.7%

8.0%

0.0%

1.7%

0.8%

0.6%

0.0%

0.2%

0.0%

4.7%

39.5%

 

Note I: TV viewers were given the possibility of mentioning up to 3 TV stations on the weekday in question.  For each TV station, these TV viewers were asked to indicate all time slots during which they viewed the mentioned TV station. (Multiple-response Q)

Note II: The column "NONE" refers to TV viewers, who watched TV on the weekday in question, however did not watch TV at certain timeslots (on the same day).

Note III: 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. 

 

 

Types of TV reception services used for watching TV

90% of all 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 and geographical regions. 11% make use of IPTV as one of the reception services, whilst 6%  use the ‘Android Box’.  2% 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 (including foreign stations) they had listened to on the previous day.

  • Bay is the most followed radio station with an audience of 1 in 5 (20%) of all radio listeners.  Bay is largely popular with the younger cohorts, with most of its listeners being radio listeners aged 12 – 30 years.
  • ONE Radio is the second most followed radio station with an audience of 14%, more particularly with radio listeners aged 51+ years (22%).
  • Calypso 101.8 is the third most followed station, with 11.2% of radio listeners mentioning this radio station as one of the stations they had listened to on the previous day.  Most of Calypso’s radio listeners are aged 51+ years.    
  • Radju Malta 1 is the fourth most followed station with 11% of all radio listeners. Most of Radju Malta 1’s listeners are aged 51+ years.

Exhibit 2 – Q14 – Most followed Radio stations (Aggregate)

(Multiple-Response Q) (n=1305)

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%.

 

Exhibit 2 illustrates the most followed radio stations during Week 23rd – 29th May 2021.

Did not listen to the radio on the previous day’ refers to radio listeners who did not listen to radio on the day of assessment during that particular week.

Note: Radio stations not featured in the Exhibit above have a radio listenership of less than 0.1%

Between Monday to Sunday.

 

 

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 (92,720 radio listeners)
  • 09:00 – 09:30 (84,648 radio listeners)
  • 08:30 – 09:00 (84,430 radio listeners).

 

 

Favourite Local Radio Programme

 

  • 1 in 4 local radio listeners (23%) do not have a preferred local radio programme. Radio listeners aged 31-50 years are the most radio listeners who do not have a preferred programme.
  • Bay Breakfast with Daniel & Ylenia is the most favourite local radio programme with 15% of all radio listeners. This radio programme is largely preferred by the younger age cohorts, 12-40 years.
  • BonÄ¡u Calypso is the second most favourite local radio programme, with 7% of all radio listeners. This programme is largely  popular amongst radio listeners aged 41+ years.
  • ONE Radio’s news bulletin is the third most favourite local radio programme with 6% of all radio listeners, the majority of these being radio listeners aged 51+ years.

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 was 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, depicted in Tables 3 and 4 below.

 

  • The highest population daily average audience shares were obtained by ONE Radio, Calypso Ten-18 and Bay on various weekdays, namely (average daily audience shares in figures and percentages):
  • ONE Radio: Monday: 7381 ( 21.7%), Tuesday: 6172 (20.6%), Saturday: 6713 (29.3%), Sunday: 8399 (32%)
  • Calypso TEN-18: Wednesday: 7858 (25.4%), Friday: 5822 (21.2%)
  • Bay: Thursday: 5122 (15.7%).

 

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

Daily Average (n)

103

Bay

Bay Easy

Calypso Ten-18

Campus FM

Magic Malta

Net FM

ONE Radio

Pure HD

Radju Malta 1

Radju Malta 2

Radju Marija

Smash Radio

Smooth Radio

Vibe HD

XFM Malta

Radju Hompesh

Radju Bambina

Radju Prekursur

Radju Luminarja

Mics FM

All Rock HD

Radju Lehen il-Qala

Radio 105

Radju Sokkors

Radju Lehen il-Belt Victoria

Foreign Station (any)

I did not listen to any radio on Monday/No particular station/Don't Remember

None

Total

Monday (N=189)

923

2,386

318

7,190

350

1,018

4,422

7,381

64

4,391

159

1,432

509

0

1,559

350

191

255

95

95

32

0

0

0

0

0

923

47,341

236,707

288,630

Tuesday (n=177)

159

3,118

541

5,122

127

509

4,327

6,172

0

4,900

223

1,718

159

64

1,209

668

0

191

0

0

0

64

32

0

0

0

636

53,450

210,745

270,304

Wednesday (n=185)

986

3,213

255

7,858

477

827

1,591

6,745

0

4,200

127

2,100

477

0

827

223

0

0

95

0

0

0

0

159

0

0

795

67,194

212,273

282,522

Thursday (n=196)

1,209

5,122

64

4,263

668

2,068

1,686

4,709

0

5,090

64

827

414

32

3,532

1,114

32

32

0

0

159

0

0

0

32

0

0

477

1,082

64,140

Friday (n=177)

445

5,122

636

5,822

191

1,941

2,291

4,009

0

4,009

0

764

64

32

891

445

0

0

32

0

0

0

0

0

32

95

636

65,667

204,637

270,304

Sauturday (n=172)

382

3,309

64

4,550

255

350

1,495

6,713

0

2,609

95

414

382

0

1,623

127

0

64

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

477

80,939

177,149

262,669

Sunday (n=209)

382

3,118

64

6,045

350

891

1,845

8,399

0

1,145

0

954

223

64

1,782

255

0

0

159

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

541

123,699

190,893

319,173

 

Table 4 -  Q14  –  RADIO – Percentage Average Audience Share By Weekday and By Station

Daily Average (%)

103

Bay

Bay Easy

Calypso Ten-18

Campus FM

Magic Malta

Net FM

ONE Radio

Pure HD

Radju Malta 1

Radju Malta 2

Radju Marija

Smash Radio

Smooth Radio

Vibe HD

XFM Malta

Radju Katidral

Radju Hompesh

Radju Bambina

Radju Prekursur

Radju Luminarja

Mics FM

All Rock HD

Radju Lehen il-Qala

Radio 105

Radju Sokkors

Radju Lehen il-Belt Victoria

Radju Margerita

Foreign Station (any)

Monday

2.7%

7.0%

0.9%

21.1%

1.0%

3.0%

13.0%

21.7%

0.2%

12.9%

0.5%

4.2%

1.5%

0.0%

4.6%

1.0%

0.0%

0.6%

0.7%

0.3%

0.3%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0

2.7%

Tuesday

0.5%

10.4%

1.8%

17.1%

0.4%

1.7%

14.5%

20.6%

0.0%

16.4%

0.7%

5.7%

0.5%

0.2%

4.0%

2.2%

0.0%

0.0%

0.6%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.2%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0

2.1%

Wednesday

3.2%

10.4%

0.8%

25.4%

1.5%

2.7%

5.1%

21.8%

0.0%

13.6%

0.4%

6.8%

1.5%

0.0%

2.7%

0.7%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.3%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.5%

0.0%

0.0%

0

2.6%

Thursday

3.7%

15.7%

0.2%

13.0%

2.0%

6.3%

5.2%

14.4%

0.0%

15.6%

0.2%

2.5%

1.3%

0.1%

10.8%

3.4%

0.1%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

0.5%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

1.5%

3.3%

Friday

1.6%

18.7%

2.3%

21.2%

0.7%

7.1%

8.3%

14.6%

0.0%

14.6%

0.0%

2.8%

0.2%

0.1%

3.2%

1.6%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.1%

0.3%

0

2.3%

Saturday

1.7%

14.4%

0.3%

19.9%

1.1%

1.5%

6.5%

29.3%

0.0%

11.4%

0.4%

1.8%

1.7%

0.0%

7.1%

0.6%

0.0%

0.0%

0.3%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0

2.1%

Sunday

1.5%

11.9%

0.2%

23.1%

1.3%

3.4%

7.0%

32.0%

0.0%

4.4%

0.0%

3.6%

0.8%

0.2%

6.8%

1.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.6%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0

2.1%

 

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: The column "NONE" refers to radio listeners, who listened to the Radio on the weekday in question, however did not listen to it at certain timeslots (on the same day)

 Note III: 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.

 

 

Types of Radio Reception Services used for Listening to Radio

 

90% of all radio listeners use the radio set (at home, office, in car, etc) 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 and geographical regions. 

7% use DAB+ as one of the radio reception services for listening to radio, with this being mostly used by radio listeners aged 21 – 50 years.

 

Online Viewership 

 

NB. The term ‘online Maltese programmes’ refers to Maltese programmes produced solely for online portals, which cannot be watched on traditional TV.

 

83% of all Maltese residents, do not watch any Maltese programmes that are solely produced for online portals.  This finding is more evident with individuals aged 31+ years.

The remaining 17% watch online Maltese programmes. The younger age cohorts (12-30 years) seem more inclined to watch these online Maltese programmes.

 

Online Portals or Platforms Used for Watching Maltese Programmes Online

 

Facebook is the most used platform for watching online Maltese programmes, with 75% of all 352 online viewers mentioning it as one of the online platforms used for watching Maltese programmes online.  This finding is evident across all age cohorts. 

Following, 29% use lovinmalta.com as one of the online portals for watching online Maltese programmes. This finding is more evident among the younger age cohorts 12-30 years.

A further 17% use timesofmalta.com as an online portal for watching online Maltese programmes.  

 

 


Exhibit 3 – Q19 – Online portal/s or platform/s used for watching Maltese

programmes online (Multiple-Response Q) (n=352)

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 0nline

 

Mobile is the most used device for online viewers to watch their preferred programme online, with 75% indicating this device as their most used device.  Mobile is the most used device across all age cohorts and gender. 

Following, 15% mostly use the laptop for watching their preferred programme online. 

The tablet is the third most used device by online viewers for watching their preferred programme online by 8% of online viewers.

 

Most Preferred Programme Online

40% of all online viewers do not have a preferred local online programme, while 14% have more than one preferred programme.

Xarabank is the favourite programme of 10% of online viewers, while Jon Jispjega is the favourite programme of 9% of online viewers.

 

Preferred Source For Local News

 

Television is the preferred source for local news by 40% of all Maltese residents. This source is particularly popular amongst individuals aged 41+ years.

22% prefer online news portals, which is the most preferred source amongst the younger cohorts (12 – 40 years).

Social media is preferred by 19%.

Radio is preferred by 4%.

 

Exhibit 4 – 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 40% of all Maltese residents mentioning television as their preferred source.  As a source for local news, television is mostly popular amongst individuals aged 51+ years.

  • 1 in 2 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 22% mentioning this station as their preferred local station for watching local news.  ONE is mostly popular with individuals aged 51+ years.
  • NET TV is the third most preferred local TV station for watching local news, and this was mentioned by 17% as the preferred local TV station for watching local news.  NET TV is also mostly popular with individuals aged 51+ years. 

Online news portals are the second most preferred source for obtaining local news, with 22% mentioning this as their preferred source for obtaining local news.  The younger cohorts, 12 – 40 years, seem to prefer this source for obtaining local news. 

  • More than half of all individuals (56%) 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.  This was the most preferred local news portal across all age groups.
  • Following, tvm.com.mt is the second most preferred local news portal for following local news, with 8% mentioning this as their preferred local news portal. 

Social Media is the third most preferred source for obtaining local news and was mentioned by 1 in 4 (19%).  This source for obtaining local news Facebook is also most popular with individuals aged 12 – 40 years.

Radio is the fourth most preferred source for local news by 4% of all Maltese residents.

  • 29% of individuals whose preferred source for obtaining local news is ‘Radio’, mentioned ONE Radio as their most preferred local radio station.
  • 16% mentioned NET FM as their most preferred local radio to obtaining local news.  
  • Radju Malta 1 is most preferred by 15%.

 

 

 

The full version of the results of the survey can be downloaded from the Authority’s website: www.ba.org.mt under ‘Latest Reports’.

 

 

10th August 2021