Why KBC Surged Past KTN News in 2022 – Media Council

The 2022 Qatar World Cup was among the biggest contributors to a surge in viewership of Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) that saw the national broadcaster overtake stations including Standard Group’s KTN News and KTN Home in 2022.

This is according to a new report by industry regulator Media Council of Kenya (MCK).

Royal Media Services (RMS)-owned Citizen TV maintained its spot as the most viewed TV station in Kenya, with 36 percent. KBC and Nation Media Group’s NTV were tied in second with 12%.

KTN Home and KTN News, both Standard Group brands were next with 11 percent and 7 percent respectively. They were followed by Inooro TV, the Kikuyu language RMS station, with 6%.

K24 had a 5 percent viewership while Ramogi TV, another RMS station, closed out the top eight with 3 percent. Ramogi TV is the youngest station on the list with RMS having unveiled the Luo language channel at the end of 2021 – making it one of the fastest growing broadcasters.

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For KBC, which has struggled to keep up with private sector competitors, the World Cup effect since waned. The Media Council disclosed that after analysis conducted in January 2023, Citizen TV was ahead with 38 percent, followed by NTV at 13 percent and KTN Home at 12 percent.

Royal Media Services was separately also ranked as the most trusted media organization in the country in the MCK survey, with 62% of respondents stating that they trusted it for information. KBC was second with 13% and Standard Group third with 13%.

NMG, Radio Africa and Mediamax followed with 6%, 5% and 4% respectively.

Interestingly, the share of survey respondents reading newspapers rose to 30% in 2022 up from 25% in 2021. MCK attributed the uptick to the General Elections. The Daily Nation, Standard, Taifa Leo and The Star were the most read newspapers with 53%, 22%, 15% and 3% respectively.

RMS also topped the radio charts as Radio Citizen was ranked as the most listened to radio station in 2022, with 18%. It was trailed by Radio Africa’s Radio Jambo in second place with 16%.

Standard Group’s Radio Maisha ranked third with 12%, with Milele FM fourth with 8%.

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