TVM leads in peak audience viewership

Radio and TV audiences are growing in absolute size, compared to surveys in both April and November 2002, according to the Broadcasting Authority's audience audit for radio and TV for the second quarter of 2003, conducted in the week after Easter.

TVM has the largest audience in the first (39.3 per cent) and third (30.4 per cent) time bands - from 6 a.m. to noon and 7 p.m. to midnight - while Super 1 has the largest audience share in the second time band (21.9 per cent) - from noon to 7 p.m. - and is judged the second best station.

The largest audience is in the third time band, the survey points out.

The results of the study show that the daily average radio station audience is highest for Super 1 (22.1 per cent), followed by RTK (17.2 per cent) and Radio 101 (15.6 per cent), while Radju Malta and Smash have increased in ranking.

The preferred radio station is Super 1, followed by Radio 101 and Bay Radio.

The highest TV channel peak audience share goes to TVM, followed by Net TV and Super 1, while for radio, Super 1 is followed by RTK and Radio 101.

The survey finds that interest in political broadcasts has risen over 2002 to 53.9 per cent, while those who "never" watch political broadcasts has gone down to 28.2 per cent.

In his presentation, Mario Vassallo said the main source for news remains TV (84.1 per cent), followed by radio and newspapers, with only 7.4 per cent and 5.7 per cent respectively.

Music (89.3 per cent) and local news (77.5 per cent) are the two programme segments that generate most interest on radio, while local and foreign news generate most interest on TV.

As regards the popularity of TV programmes, news bulletins continue to register highly, but not always the highest audience levels. Some programmes, such as Xarabank on TVM and F'Bahar Wiehed on Net TV exceed their respective station's news bulletin following and are the station's strongest programmes.

TVM has the largest audience in absolute terms with Xarabank - still the programme with the highest audience level - while Tista' Tkun Int! and UC5 are the second and third most popular TV programmes.

The survey shows that 99.4 per cent watch TV, a third for more than two hours, while 24.5 per cent of the population watch for more than three.

Radio is mostly listened to at home (74.3 per cent), but also in the car (35.5 per cent) and a third of the population listens to radio for an average of four to nine hours.

Other points that emerged from the study are the fact that the majority of respondents, (67.3 per cent ) receive their TV signal via cable; the sitting room is the most common place where TV is watched (50.3 per cent); and 27 per cent watch TV in their bedroom.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2002, the husband is once again the person who decides on the choice of channel.

The Broadcasting Authority has been conducting bi-annual radio and TV audience studies since 1999.