Just over one in every 10 households in Malta held a Netflix subscription in 2023, according to data published by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

The EBU’s annual Media Intelligence Services report profile on Malta, seen by Times of Malta, compiles data from several sources, including research firms such as Dataxis Mediametrie and the EBU’s own member organisations, to paint a picture of Malta’s broadcast environment.

Malta’s sole member of the EBU is the Public Broadcasting Service.

According to the report, around 23,000 households in Malta held a subscription to Netflix in 2023, a little over a tenth of all Maltese households.

In total, Netflix made €2.1 million in revenues from Maltese subscribers in the year, making it by far the country’s most popular on-demand streaming service.

Netflix has steadily grown in popularity over the years, rising from 11,000 subscribers in 2018 to 23,000 in the most recent data. The popular global streaming service first landed on Malta’s screens in early 2016.

However, other streaming services appear to be gradually catching up with Netflix, particularly GO’s on-demand service, which has tripled its subscribers from 5,000 in 2021 to 15,000 in the space of two years.

Other streaming services, such as Disney+ and YouTube Premium now capture a small, albeit growing, share of the market, the survey suggests.

Melita lead pay TV market

However, while GO’s streaming service appears to be on the rise, the company still trails Melita when it comes to pay TV subscribers.

According to the report, GO reported 75,000 subscribers in 2023, bringing in €13.2 million in revenue, well short of the €19.8 million Melita received from its 115,000 subscribers.

Melita also appears to be gaining new pay TV customers at a faster pace, signing up almost 20,000 new subscribers since 2018, compared to GO’s 5,000 over the same period.

Quite how subscription rates to streaming and pay TV services are impacted by the widespread use of IPTV remains unclear. According to separate data published by the Malta Communications Authority last year, IPTV connections remain popular, rising by 10% in 2024.

In 2020, the authority found that two-thirds of people with a pay TV subscription also regularly use an IPTV box.

PBS commercial revenue multiples

The EBU report also sheds light on how Malta’s public broadcaster operates.

The report reveals that PBS’s budgetary allocation gradually grew to reach €6.2 million in 2023, with the broadcaster this year receiving a further €6.4 million in advertising revenue.

Aside from advertising, the broadcaster has also seen its other commercial revenue balloon from under €1 mil-lion in 2021 to over €3.7 million in 2023, making up almost a quarter of its total budget.

The report also suggests that PBS offices remain a largely male-dominated affair, with fewer than a third of staff members, or just 53 of its 168 employees, being women.