Top 10 most watched TV stations in Kenya
Various research teams each year collect statistics from media stations to determine their penetration among Kenyan audiences and determine their popularity.
Information from the Communication Authority of Kenya CA,Media Council of Kenya (MCK) and other research bodies such as GeoPoll’s data and The Kenya Advertising Research Foundation demonstrate that only a few TV stations in Kenya dominate in terms of audience size.
In a survey done in 2020 on the Status of Media report that was released in December 2020 by Media Council of Kenya, there was a slight rise in TV viewership.
Citizen TV once again emerged as the clear leader in terms of both share and viewership, with an average of 1.7 million viewers per 30-minute time block representing 35% of all viewers in the country .
In second place was NTV with 750,000 viewers per time block representing 13% of TV viewers in the country, and third was KTN Home with 600,000 viewers representing 11.5% of the viewers.
About 2 out of 5 of those surveyed by MCK indicated that the News segment is the most watched in their households.
“55% of Kenyans had more time to read and listen to news and content due to COVID-19 restrictions,” MCK Chief Executive Officer David Omwoyo said.
In the 4th and 5th positions were KTN News and Inooro TV at 9 percent and 7 percent respectively.
Most notably, a majority of TV stations in Kenya record high viewership numbers during the peak hours of between 7 pm to 10 pm.
At 7pm during the nightly news show Citizen Nipashe and the weekend version Nipashe Wikendi, Citizen’s average viewership in October was over 2.2 million, and audience numbers stay high through the prime time schedule, never dipping below an average of 2 million viewers before 10pm.
Below is a list showing various TV stations in Kenya and their popularity in terms of viewership.
Top 10 most watched TV stations in Kenya
| Position | TV Station | Number of viewers per 30min peak time | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Citizen TV | 1,700,000 | 35% |
| 2 | NTV | 750,000 | 13% |
| 3 | KTN Home | 600,000 | 11% |
| 4 | KTN News | 535,000 | 9% |
| 5 | Inooro TV | 442,000 | 7% |
| 6 | K24 TV | 296,000 | 6% |
| 7 | KBC | 271,000 | 5.8% |
| 8 | Switch TV | 130,000 | 2.8% |
| 9 | KTN Burudani | 125,000 | 2.6% |
| 10 | Kass TV | 120,000 | 2.5% |
| Gikuyu TV | 107,000 | 1.9% | |
Most watched TV stations in Kenya
Citizen TV attracts most of the viewers for its prime time news and local show programs. The move by Royal media to have one local program run throughout the week from Monday to Friday after the 7 am news has seen the station gain more viewers and this has in turn increased it command in the TV broadcasting sector.
Citizen TV maintains the lead as Kenya’s top television station: MCK https://t.co/64g0c7DQWe pic.twitter.com/x3ICX4gxht
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) December 19, 2020
NTV receives high viewership from the Churchill Show program that airs every Sunday. The 7pm and 9 PM news also contributes to the station’s large followings to the TV station.
KTN that also goes along with KTN news has a huge following thanks to its news programs that runs almost throughout the day. KTN local programs and drama programs are also most sought after by a majority of Kenyans.
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K24 saw a considerable drop in its number of viewers after the massive exit of its top presenters following layoffs at the MediaMax owned station amid the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
The station has however managed to retain a good number of its viewers as it strives to expand on its market share.
With Kenya having more than 20 local stations. A big number of the local stations share less than 2 percent of the audience in TV broadcasting industry.
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