A primer on the economics of the media in Malta

Abstract

This chapter introduces some key concepts in economics pertinent to media studies including emergent insights from the growing field of behavioural economics, before turning its focus to the media landscape in Malta. The main contribution of the chapter is to examine media consumption (focusing on internet, TV and radio), using nationally-representative data collected recently by Malta’s National Statistics Office. The analysis profiles the demand for media by key socio-economic determinants (including gender, labour status, education, age, family composition, marital status and regional district), and provides some insights on supply of media content at the household level. In a further round of analysis, the reader is invited to examine the relationship between media consumption and other behaviours in the political, religious, social, cultural, sport and environmental domains, as well as the relationship between media consumption and wellbeing. This sets out an agenda for further research on behavioural economics and the media in Malta. We find that education and gender are both key correlates of media consumption across different platforms, as well as important factors in explaining the supply of user-created content like videos and blogs. By contrast, we find weak correlation between media consumption and wellbeing. The results have important implications for the use of different media platforms in order to cater for specific target audiences, and provide a springboard to further research within this field by understanding individual determinants of media consumption and its influence on behaviour.