Times Talk has emerged as the most followed current affairs programme in the pre-news hour on TVM, figures released by the Broadcasting Authority show.
Produced by Times of Malta and presented by head of media Herman Grech and chief reporter Mark Micallef, the programme had an average peak audience of 17,000 in February.
Bottom of the list is Reporter, hosted by Malta Today managing editor Saviour Balzan, which registered an average peak audience of just 3,000 in February, dropping to 2,000 by 7.45pm.
This is the first audience survey covering the broadcasting schedule that started in October when TVM shifted all weekly current affairs programmes, bar Xarabank, to the pre-news hour.
Broadcast on Tuesday, Times Talk registered an average audience of 17,000 at 7pm, dropping to 14,000 by 7.45pm. The Wednesday programme Għandi xi Ngħid, hosted by academic Andrew Azzopardi, registered a peak audience of 13,000, which it maintained throughout the time period.
Dissett, hosted by veteran journalist Reno Bugeja on Thursday, came in third with an average peak audience of 12,000, which it maintained throughout the time slot.
The other discussion programme produced by the TVM newsroom on Friday, Focus, registered an average peak audience of 10,000.
The discussion programmes have to compete with the news bulletins of the two political party stations that are both broadcast at 7.30pm. Times of Malta editor-in-chief Steve Mallia said: “We are pleased with the results considering this is only our first year in television.
“The figures show that viewers look upon us as a credible and informative source of information and that we can spread our brand over different platforms.
“We will work hard to continue to improve.”
Several thousands of others view Times Talk on demand via timesofmalta.com every week.
The survey commissioned by the Broadcasting Authority was conducted by the National Statistics Office and polled a sample of 1,240 people. Interviews were held on a daily basis between February 2 and March 4.
The TVM news at 8pm is by far the most watched programme, registering the highest average peak audience for all programmes on all stations. On Friday the news was watched by 108,000 viewers.
Xarabank, the only peak-time discussion programme, registered an average audience of 90,000.
TVM pre-news current affairs audience share
| 7pm | 7.30pm | 7.45pm | |
| Times Talk, Tuesday | 17,000 | 15,000 | 14,000 |
| Għandi xi Ngħid, Wednesday | 13,000 | 13,000 | 13,000 |
| Dissett, Thursday | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 |
| Focus, Friday | 8,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Reporter, Monday | 3,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| Source: BA | |||