Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546198
LAURA CALLEJA lcalleja@mediatoday.com.mt 2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 AUGUST 2026 TELEVISON Malta's TV industry looks to build on MALTA'S television industry is entering a new phase, with lo- cal productions reaching bigger audiences and creating oppor- tunities for hundreds of Mal- tese and Gozitan creatives. GO says its €7 million invest- ment in local productions up to 2024 has helped create a more consistent pipeline of work, while TOKIS, the company's dedicated Maltese television channel and on-demand li- brary, attracts 5.2 million views a month. The challenge ahead is to build on that momentum, turn- ing growing audience demand and a thriving pool of local tal- ent into a creative industry that can continue to grow and devel- op, while recognising that the local market is up against global streaming services with signifi- cantly greater financial backing. Speaking to MaltaToday, Mandy Calleja, GO's Head of Corporate Communications, explains that before TOKIS, lo- cal production was often char- acterised by individual projects happening intermittently. "Our objective was to build a more continuous pipeline of Maltese content, giving writers, directors, actors, producers and technical crews more regular opportunities to work and to develop their careers." She explained that since launching TOKIS, "hundreds of Maltese creatives" have been in- volved across a growing number of productions. "Our next season alone in- volves around 500 people from Malta and Gozo across ten new productions," she says. Furthermore, Calleja said GO recognises that creative em- ployment differs from employ- ment in other sectors. It is often project-based, and building a sustainable industry takes more than funding programmes. "It requires a consistent pipeline, investment in skills, stronger production companies and real opportunities for local talent to grow." "Our role has been to create demand and stability, and ulti- mately, it is viewers who sustain that demand. The next step is ensuring this momentum trans- lates into a stronger, more resil- ient creative ecosystem for the long term." Going up against streaming giants Over the last decade, stream- ing giants such as Netflix, Dis- ney+, Amazon Prime and oth- ers have taken over the market and changed the way people watch television. Calleja admits that a Maltese production is "unlikely to com- pete with global platforms on scale or budget. However, while it cannot compete with Netflix on production volume, it can absolutely compete on rele- vance." Calleja insists that while au- diences want international en- tertainment, they also want sto- ries that reflect their own lives, language, humour and experi- ences, "a local connection that global platforms simply cannot replicate." "Ultimately, it is viewers who decide what succeeds, and their continued engagement is the clearest evidence that Maltese content has a firm place along- side international offerings. The challenge for the industry now is to keep improving produc- tion quality while retaining the authenticity that makes Maltese stories distinctive," she says. TOKIS, Calleja explains, began as an experiment and provided one of the very first and most "telling insights" into Maltese audiences and their "appetite for locally produced content". "Since launch, TOKIS has grown into one of Malta's lead- ing entertainment platforms, drawing 5.2 million views every month from a library of over 5,000 hours of entertainment and more than 4,000 episodes available on demand. Hundreds of new hours are added every month, with over 500 hours of fresh content released this year alone." Independent or reliant indus- try? While the sector has grown significantly, Calleja says it would be premature to describe Malta's local production indus- try as fully self-sustaining. "Like any small creative mar- ket, Malta relies on collabo- ration between broadcasters, platforms, independent pro- ducers, government initiatives and private investment, a reality shared by many successful crea- tive economies." "Through our investment in TOKIS, our intention was to provide a consistent stream of Mandy Calleja, GO's Head of Corporate Communications Il-Hajjata Charles and Ron Il-Hajjata Charles and Ron Il-Hajjata Charles and Ron