Understanding the Love Island Malta phenomenon 

Right upfront I am going to start with a disclaimer: I didn’t watch a single episode of Love Island Malta. 

I hasten to add that I’m not saying this in a judgmental way (after all, to each his own), but just to point out that even without watching it, I could tell it was a hit. 

What has intrigued me from the beginning is that this reality show immediately became a pop culture phenomenon and when something like this happens, it interests me immensely from a sociological point of view. 

So, while, admittedly, I don’t know every twist and turn among the couples over the last six weeks, Love Island was always at the periphery of my consciousness. With regular frequency, daily posts about it were coming up on my newsfeed and I could basically get the gist of what was going on, helped along by the jokes and memes, some of which were very clever. Even when socialising, talk would inevitably turn to Love Island, and I can safely say that practically everyone I know was watching it. 

I was therefore not surprised by the statistics: 

• Over 170,000 people in Malta & Gozo alone watched Love Island Malta  

• 93% of the population between the age of 16-25 watched it 

• 44% of the people who do not normally watch Maltese television, chose to watch it 

• the finale was watched by 239,000 viewers, breaking every record in the history of Maltese television 

Now, it is easy to view these figures and conclude, as many have done, that if this is what the majority of people prefer to watch then, “as a society, we’re doomed”. It is very tempting to join in this chorus when one is only assessing the programme in a cursory way; but those kind of ratings cannot be simply dismissed so high-handedly, so perhaps we need to look at them in another light. 

Some of the numbers are easy to explain - it is to be expected that, since the programme featured 20-somethings, the percentage of those who tuned in from the younger age bracket would be high. It is human nature for viewers to be drawn to people on TV with whom they can identify. 

This could also be seen by those who went to meet the couples in person during a promotional event, once they left the villa - from those interviewed it was clear that a type of symbiosis had taken place, irrespective of gender. The fans could easily relate to these “ordinary people” who were on the show who had now become quasi “celebrities”, at least within Malta’s context. Gen Z, which has grown up with social media and dating apps, felt an instant connection with the guys and girls in the villa. 

It was not just the younger generation who were obsessed with the show however… whether young or middle-aged, everyone seemed to be watching it for a variety of reasons. Some told me it was their guilty pleasure; an easy going and relaxing show to unwind after a day’s work, others enjoyed the entertainment factor as they could laugh at the antics and phrases of the participants which instantly became catchphrases (“Relax Bello” and “bombshell” have entered the vernacular). 

Granted, in some cases, people were watching it to make fun and ridicule the participants which is, unfortunately, inevitable. Still others liked the gossip element as they tried to guess who would end up with whom among the couples. Another aspect was also pointed out to me by a viewer: since “everybody was watching it” they didn’t want to feel left out when they went to work the next day and not know what their colleagues were talking about. 

The FOMO element - whether it is going to the latest trendy place or watching “must see TV” - is alive and real. 

This last point is especially significant in an age when so much can be streamed and binge-watched at one go. Remember the days when we would wait patiently for our favourite show on a certain night of the week, and it would become a so-called ‘water cooler’ topic the next day? 

Friends, Seinfeld, Will & Grace, Sex & the City, Grey’s Anatomy, The Sopranos. It was a collective viewing experience which has been diluted somewhat thanks to the arrival of Netflix and a plethora of other streaming platforms, because now we can watch anything, anywhere, any time on any device, and we don’t even need to be at home to do so.    

With live programming, such as Love Island Malta, however, you have no choice but to wait, and the fact that everyone was watching the same episode at the same time gave it a certain edge. Even though some people watched it the next day on demand, the immediacy of watching it live caught on. A community was created as the weeks went by, and the simultaneous watching of the show gathered momentum. This is why I found the figure of 44% of those who do not normally watch Maltese television highly fascinating.  I can vouch for this because I know people who would roll their eyes and tell you “never” if you ask them whether they ever watch local channels… and yet here they were, cheerfully admitting that they were hooked on Love Island Malta. 

Both from a psychological standpoint and as a media phenomenon, this points to a number of factors about what viewers want from local programming: more light entertainment, shows which are in our language (even if it is often a mishmash of English and Maltese which is how so many people speak) and a concept which deals with human behaviour and people’s relationships. 

Now, I am not saying that we need more reality shows - but certainly there is an argument to be made for giving viewers something other than dreary, kitchen sink drama (although those shows too have their audiences).  If we look back over recent years, the most popular shows, such as X Factor, invariably revolved around light entertainment. There is nothing wrong with that - watching TV is usually about the need for escapism.  Above all, it is clear that local TV productions need to be more relatable to the Malta we live in today and I think that is why Love Island Malta had that kind of record-breaking viewership. Whether it was young people who could see themselves in the young couples who were literally speaking their language, or parents of young adults and teenagers whose eyes were opened (for better or worse) to the dynamics of today’s relationships. 

On some level, it “spoke” to them, and that is the whole aim of making a watchable TV show -  to harness those attributes which make for compulsive viewing.  

There are many ways to tick all these boxes without going down the reality show route; in any case, Love Island Malta was a tried and trusted franchise so the format was already there and we should not have to keep relying on franchises. We need creative outside of the box thinking by TV producers who can come up with shows which are a reflection of what we see around us. Too often when I zap through local stations, it is as if they are stuck in a time warp and are completely cut off from today’s society.   

I am sure that if enough of the right people were entrusted with a decent budget to create good original TV programming, which is tailor-made for Maltese audiences, they could tap into a wider viewership. 

They might not achieve the dizzying heights and the buzz generated by Love Island Malta, but they could start to win back viewers who have given up on watching good entertainment on local channels.