Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may receive a multicast channel configuration that indicates a set of multicast channel time domain resources allocated to a multicast channel for a first multicast broadcast area. The UE may receive an indication of a first set of time domain resources, of the set of multicast channel time domain resources, that have a first reference signal pattern that differs in frequency domain density as compared to a second reference signal pattern used for at least one of a second set of time domain resources of the set of multicast channel time domain resources or a second multicast broadcast area. The UE may decode the first set of time domain resources based at least in part on the first reference signal pattern. Numerous other aspects are provided.