TVAM audiences decimated since 2013 format change

TV audience ratings for TVM’s morning slot has revealed audiences plummeted by some 50% since its peak viewership back in April-June 2012.

TV producer Pierre Portelli – now director of content at Standard Publications – and former One TV journalist Joe Mifsud, today appointed magistrate, and TVM journalist Daphne Cassar commanded audiences of over 5,300 in 2012.

The trio anchored the TVAM breakfast show since 2011, making the early morning show a first point of reference for current affairs by securing interviews with the people whose opinion mattered throughout the week.

They also enjoyed record audiences thanks to the political fever that dominated the main part of 2012, when Lawrence Gonzi was fending off a one-man mutiny by backbencher Franco Debono.

But the daily show was radically changed soon after Labour was elected to power in March 2013: the presenters were changed, and instead former One TV and TVM journalist Norma Saliba was brought back to TVM from her role as media coordinator at MEUSAC to anchor the show, together with long-time TV producer and presenter Pablo Micallef.

According to data presented in parliament, daily audiences for TVAM between October-December 2011 were at an average of 3,380, slightly down to 3,542 during January-March 2012, then almost doubling to 5,362 between April-June 2012, again falling to 2,400 between October-December 2012, then shooting up again to 5,200 during the electoral campaign of January-March 2013.

Audience fell slightly to 4,200 in the summer of 2013, and then radically down to an all-time low of 2,400, and most recently 2,438 in February 2015.