Around two-thirds of the population watch TV regularly, with news programmes being the most popular, the latest Broadcasting Authority survey found.

According to the March 2019 survey, the amount of regular TV viewers has remained roughly unchanged over the last year at 274,500 people, or 63.4% of the population, who watched around one hour and 45 minutes a day on average.

TVM was by far the most popular channel with just over a third of all viewers, followed by the two political party channels One (18.4% of viewers) and Net (7.9%).

Only around a third of the population watched foreign channels, though younger viewers were significantly more likely to do so.

Local and foreign news dominated viewers’ favourite genres - 20% indicated news as their preferred programming - followed by Maltese drama series, discussion and current affairs, documentary and cultural shows.

Analysed by gender, men watched significantly more sport and documentary programmes than women, who showed a greater preference for drama series, teleshopping and light entertainment programmes.

More than 90% of respondents had a paid subscription, while around half had an IT-based service such as IPTV, Android box or Netflix streaming.

Radio listeners increase slightly

More than half the population (56%) listen to the radio regularly, an increase of nearly 5% compared to February 2018.

89.7 Bay was the most popular station with around a quarter of all listeners, followed by One Radio, Vibe FM and Radju Marija.

Among younger listeners, 89.7 Bay claimed an even larger share, more than two-thirds of teenagers and nearly half of those in their twenties. One Radio was the most popular among older listeners with a quarter of those after 50 and a third of those over 70.

Gender differences revealed themselves in listeners’ preferred segments, with men more likely to tune in for morning and afternoon drive programmes, while women were more likely to opt for daytime and overnight programming.