• Social networks are the main news source for those under 35 years of age (39%), while television is the favorite channel for those over that age (43%).

• With the exception of the digital editions of radio and television, the use of information in most media, both digital and traditional, fell slightly. 

The use of media in Spain reveals a slight drop in the preference for digital media, while traditional media maintain a constant level of use. Television continues to be the predominant medium: 56% of Spaniards turn to it for information.

Analysis of data reveals some significant changes in the news source landscape compared to the previous year. This year, there has been a decrease in the percentage of respondents who report using digital media as their primary news sources, from 74% in 2023 to 72%.

The decline in digital media is accompanied by a similar decrease in the use of offline media, from 69% to 68% in 2024. Although the difference between both types of media has marginally reduced, this phenomenon continues with the trend started since 2018, characterized by a gradual rapprochement between both as information sources. It is important to note that this decrease is more B in the case of digital media, which have experienced a 7% decrease since 2018.

On the other hand, the percentage of respondents who state that they do not consume any of the information sources offered by survey continues its upward trend, adding one more percentage point this year to reach 7% of the total number of respondents.

Television is not only the most widely used medium...

The analysis of all the media surveyed shows that most of them have stabilized. Television continues to lead as source informative, although it does not improve with respect to the previous year. The only source information source to experience an increase is the websites and television and radio applications, which went from 22% to 24% in their use as information sources.

Television continues to be the medium most Spaniards use to get information. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed stated that they use it for this purpose. This percentage is the same as in 2023, a figure that represents a new high in the gradual decline experienced by this medium as source informative, something that had not occurred since 2021, when it experienced its first -and only- rise in the series since 2014. 

For their part, social networks show a decline in their use as an informative source , being used by less than 50% of the population for the first time since 2016. This change, together with the stability in the use of television, increases the gap between these two media in terms of their relevance as sources of information and continues the trend started in 2023.

As for other media, there has also been a slight decrease in their use. Twenty-one percent of users report using newspapers as sources of information, a decrease of two percentage points compared to the previous year. Similarly, the use of radio as a source of information source has also experienced a decrease from 22% to 20%. Both online media and magazine websites and apps have experienced a similar one percentage point decline in their use as news sources.

... but remains the main source for information.

The medium that most Spaniards indicate as source main source of information continues to be television. 38% of those surveyed, almost two out of every five, indicate this medium as their main news source , a percentage that increases slightly with respect to the year 2023 (37%). This increase consolidates its position as the main source source of information for most Spaniards.

Significant differences in consumption are observed according to the age of the respondents. While among those under 35 years of age, social networks are the main source source of information for 39%, this percentage decreases considerably among those over 35 years of age. It is interesting to note that the group age group with the largest gap between social network and television consumption is 18 to 20 year olds, where 47% prefer social networks while only 20% use television as their main source . Meanwhile, among those over 35 years of age, the main source of information is television (43%), a medium in which there is a significant difference of twenty percentage points with those under 35 years of age (23%). Thus, it can be established that as the age of the respondents increases, so does their television consumption, while the relevance of social networks as the main sources of information decreases. With regard to television as the main source of information source , statistically significant differences are found from the age of 25 onwards, so that it can be established that younger people establish a weaker information link with television than those over 25. The behavior of those surveyed with respect to social networks as the main sources of information is similar, although of opposite sign. The percentage of Spaniards who indicate this source as the main source of information drops more sharply after the age of 35, establishing a statistically significant difference with the lower ranges.

In terms of gender, there are significant differences in four of the eight types of media analyzed. Thus, the differences are notable in radio information programs, magazines, newspaper websites and in the use of other information sources. However, they are more marked in the case of radio programs and newspaper websites. In the case of the former, the distance between the issue of men who identify them as their main source source of information (11%) and that of women (6%) is five percentage points. On the other hand, with regard to newspaper websites, 14% of men say they use them as their main source source of information, while only 10% of women say the same, a gap of four percentage points.

Although television is still relevant, there is a statistically significant difference in the overall consumption of newspapers and their digital platforms according to the level educational. The higher the level educational of respondents, the higher the consumption of newspapers and their digital platforms. For example, newspaper consumption doubles from 15% among those with lower educational levels to 29% among those with a level of Master's Degree or doctorate. This commitment to newspapers is also maintained in the consumption of their digital platforms, which are more widely used by those with higher levels of educational .

In terms of ideological affiliation, there is greater variability in the consumption of television than in that of social networks. The respondents in which there is a greater preeminence of television are those in the center of the ideological spectrum: center-left, center and center-right. In the rest of the groups, television also manages to position itself in first position as source informative, although the distance with the second source, social networks, is smaller. The only case in which television is not in first position are those respondents who declare voting for the extreme left, among whom social networks are the most popular (53%), with a distance of more than ten points over television (37%). 

Users close to the ideological center or to the right show a higher consumption of television (59% and 64%, respectively), while those on the extreme left tend to consume less (37%). This disparity is significantly more pronounced than in the consumption of social networks, where ideological discrepancies are less noticeable. For example, although far-left users show higher consumption (53%), the difference with center users is three times smaller than in the case of television. However, the trends suggest that there is greater television consumption among respondents who align themselves ideologically towards the right, while users who position themselves on the left show greater use of social networks.

Influence of interest in current affairs

Detailed analysis of media consumption reveals a significant relationship between interest in current affairs and preferences for news sources. Among those with a high interest in current affairs, there is a high use of various media. Of particular note is television consumption (66%), online information (60%), social networks (50%) or the use of newspaper websites and apps, which 40% of this subject of respondents say they use as source for information. Except for the use of social networks, both television and online information and newspaper websites and apps show high consumption values compared to those obtained among those who have no interest in current affairs (29%, 17% and 10%, respectively). On the other hand, there are statistically significant differences between those interested and those not interested in the consumption of information sources in radio information programs (24 percentage points), newspapers (26 percentage points), online media (20 percentage points), television (37 percentage points) and newspaper websites and apps (31 percentage points).

 
The percentage of respondents interested in current affairs who choose television as their main source of information source (66%) is ten percentage points higher than the average of Spaniards (56%). Something similar happens with respect to the use that this social group makes of the websites and apps of newspapers, magazines, television and radio. However, this difference is not so marked when analyzing social networks, where the difference is barely two points. Among the respondents most interested in current affairs, 50% say they use social networks as their main source of information source , a percentage that drops to 48% in the case of the total number of respondents. This represents a decrease compared to the previous year, when the percentage of the same group respondents who said they use social networks as their main source source of information was 52%.

Regarding the preference of this subject of users for news, there is an interesting detail about how they use the different platforms. Forty-one percent of Spaniards interested in news say they use newspaper websites and apps, a percentage that is close to the 50% who use social networks for information. Although this is a gap of almost ten percentage points, it halves the overall gap between these two categories for the whole of survey. This status marks a change from last year. In 2023, 42% of users interested in current affairs opted for online newspapers, although the gap with social networks (55%) was slightly larger, with a gap of 13 percentage points. This year, that gap has narrowed to nine percentage points.