• El País, despite remaining at the top of the digital media audience in Spain with 15%, continues to fall 3 percentage points from the previous year, and led the declines in consumption of all brands.

• The option of another regional or local newspaper online occupies the third place of the weekly audience.

• TV continues to be essential in the information per diem expenses led by Antena 3, which between its offline, combined and online versions accumulates 45% of Internet users.

El País online, after many years of solitary leadership as the news media with the largest weekly online audience in Spain, is joined in 2023 by 20 Minutos online. Both news brands share the top of the table with an audience share of 15%, but the trajectories are reversed. While the audience of El País Online suffers a downward trend (21% in 2021 and 18% in 2022), the audience of 20 Minutos online recovers from last year's two percentage point drop (15% in 2021, 13% in 2022). On the one hand, it is worth noting that this is the first time in the decade that the study has been carried out in Spain that a free online media has obtained the largest weekly online audience. On the other hand, in the general context, it cannot be ignored that the weekly online audience of the leading media has been decreasing in recent years (from 21% in 2021 to 15% in 2023). 

The second step of the table is made up of four media that share 12% of the weekly online audience: "another regional or local online newspaper", El Mundo online, Antena 3 online and OKDiario.com. Therefore, these positions are represented by a newspaper with a more regional character, a traditional newspaper, a generalist television and a digital native media. All these media, except OK Diario, also stand out for their good user loyalty, since around half or more of their readers usually visit them at least three times a week. 

Once again this year, the trend of purely digital media in the top 10 of the weekly online audience is consolidated. In addition to OKDiario.com (from 13% in 2022 to 12% in 2023), it is accompanied by ElDiario.es and ElConfidencial.com with 12% and 11% respectively. Despite their recent trajectories, these audience figures demonstrate that the digital native media have managed to establish themselves among the media with the largest weekly online audience. However, as last year, this subject media still have room for improvement in terms of reader loyalty, as readers who consult them three times or more do not reach half of their online audience. 

As in previous years, Antena 3 online is the only medium among the generalist TV channels that manages to establish itself in the top ten with 12%. However, with 13% in 2022 and 14% in 2021 sample a loss of two percentage points in the last two years.   

RTVE online (9%), Telecinco online (7%) and LaSexta online (6%) remain with an audience below 10 percentage points. 

The ranking of the most consumed offline media on a weekly basis by Internet users once again places television channels at the top of the table. Once again, Antena 3 once again tops the cima with an audience of 42%, three points less than in 2022, but still at a great distance from the rest of the television channels. With 18 percentage points less is RTVE (24%) followed closely by LaSexta (23%) and Telecinco (22%). These data are indicators of the great weight maintained by the generalist television channels in their weekly news per diem expenses . 

It is also worth highlighting the relevant role played by regional and local media such as regional or local television and radio (17%) and another regional or local newspaper (14%). These smaller media are ahead of general newspapers such as El País (13%) and the general radio COPE (12%).  

One way to understand audience loyalty to a media outlet is to measure the frequency of visit throughout the week. The DNR's survey asks Internet users which of the media they consume on a weekly basis they tend to visit three or more times. In this regard, TV channels not only have large audiences, but also show a high Degree loyalty. Especially in the case of Antena 3, it can be seen that more than two thirds of viewers frequent the channel three or more days a week. The other generalist television channels such as RTVE, LaSexta, Telecinco and Cuatro have audiences where more than half of their viewers use the channels three or more days a week. These data are in contrast to print brands, whose most regular readers do not reach half of their weekly readership. Taking El País (5% of the total of 13%) or El Mundo (4% of the total of 11%) as an example, it can be seen that less than half of all Internet users consult them three or more times a week.

Antena 3 is once again the news brand of reference letter (45% vs. 48% in 2022) when combining offline, dual and online audience. The gap with RTVE (27%), the next medium in the table, is 18% points, indicating the strong audience leadership that Antena 3 has over the rest of the media. RTVE is followed much more closely by LaSexta (25%), Telecinco (24%) and a regional or local public television (23%), although all these TV channels have suffered slight declines compared to 2022. 

Focusing on the combined print media audience, the first brand to appear is El País with 22% of online users who consult the medium at least once a week. If we compare this with the percentage data of 2021 (26%) and 2022 (24%), it can be seen that the leading brand in the print media is facing a trend at leave. The other newspapers that follow El País at a distance that is narrowing over time are regional or local pay newspapers (20% compared to 2022), 20 Minutos (19%) and El Mundo (17%). As last year, the regional and local press category demonstrates its consolidation by maintaining its position ahead of 20 Minutos and El Mundo.

The two radio stations that maintain their leadership over the other radio stations in terms of combined audiences are COPE with 14% and Cadena SER with 13%. With 9%, Onda Cero completes the third position. It should be noted that RNE is counted jointly as part of RTVE. 

Beyond the total scope of the combined audience, it is also worth mentioning the differences in offline-only and online-only audiences of the different media. Starting with the generalist television channels, it is not surprising to confirm that once again this year the vast majority follow the news coverage through linear broadcasting (over 65% of the total audience). In the case of regional or local public television, the offline-only audience exceeds the majority (57%), but it can be seen that the dual and online-only audience has more weight.    

If the balance in the television media leans towards the offline-only audience, in the case of national newspapers, the online-only audience has acquired greater prominence. In other words, with the consolidation of digital technologies, the percentage of online readers of the main national newspapers already exceeds the percentage of offline readers. In this sense, the most striking case is that of 20 Minutos with 10% of online-only readers compared to 4% of offline-only readers.   

A souvenir of use survey

The Digital News Report includes questions about the offline and online news media that users recall having consulted at least once in the course of the last week. As an indicator of higher loyalty and frequency of use, users are asked whether they have visited the media three or more times in the last seven days. The results obtained with this method give priority to users' conscious choices, since they are asked to point out those news brands that come to mind when they make report about their news habits. In this way, the study seeks to exclude media visits that have occurred accidentally or inadvertently during users' browsing. 

Similarly, it is worth mentioning the existing margin for the users surveyed to favor or omit brands depending on whether they perceive them to be more or less socially acceptable. A ranking of more than forty of the main brands and categories of information consulted by online news users in Spain during the first weeks of 2023 is reflected in survey .