Royal Media Services (RMS) continues to dominate Kenya’s media landscape across television, radio, and digital platforms, as revealed by the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) in their State of the Media 2023 Survey Report, released this past Thursday.
According to the report, Citizen TV remains the leading television broadcaster in Kenya, maintaining its viewership at 35 percent, unchanged from the previous year. It is followed by NTV and KTN Home, capturing 11 percent and 8 percent of the market, respectively.
Among the RMS-owned stations, Inooro TV, which broadcasts in Kikuyu, ranked as the seventh most-watched station nationally, with a six percent viewership.
On the radio front, Radio Citizen tops the charts with a significant 22 percent of the national radio listenership. Other popular RMS radio stations include Inooro FM at 5 percent, Musyi FM at 2 percent, and both Mulembe FM and Egesa FM at 1 percent each.
In the digital realm, Citizen Digital holds its position as the second-most frequented news website in Kenya, commanding a nine percent readership, trailing behind Tuko, which leads with 13 percent.
The survey also highlighted that television and radio remain the primary sources of information for most Kenyans. Thirty-three percent of those surveyed said they accessed TV content in the past week, closely followed by 32 percent who used radio. Social media, while significant, was less utilized, with 18 percent reporting usage.
Regionally, preferences vary; the North Eastern and Western regions of Kenya showed a stronger preference for radio over TV. Urban areas exhibited a higher tendency towards television consumption, whereas radio remained more popular in rural settings, with 78 percent of rural respondents preferring it for news and entertainment.
The findings were gathered from a sample of 3,580 respondents, interviewed between February 24 and March 4 using computer-assisted telephone and personal interviewing techniques.
