Spain: FTA TV consumption down, pay-TV up
January 4, 2023
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Spaniards are increasingly dedicating less time to watching free-to-air (FTA) television and more to watching pay-TV, according to data from Barlovento Comunicación. In 2022 Spaniards spent a daily average of 190 minutes watching FTA TV, down 11 per cent on the previous year at 214 minutes. 2022 is the year with the least FTA TV consumption since 1992, with pay-TV, on the contrary, growing by 14 per cent with a share of 10 per cent. The most widely watched channel is La Liga TV from Movistar.In addition, Spaniards are increasingly watch TV via the Internet – using established streaming services, local VoD services, YouTube and the like – with a growth of 17 per cent; around 35 minutes on average per person daily. In FTA TV Atresmedia is the leader in terms of audience ratings with an average share of 27.2 per cent including all of its six TV channels, followed by Mediaset with 26.2 per cent and public broadcaster RTVE with 14.7 per cent. In terms of advertising, TV saw a 5 per cent fall to €1.7 billion due to the present cost-of-living crisis, as well as the ongoing boom of streaming services and social networks, according to the consultancy firm.