The Digital News Report Spain 2026 paints a less negative picture of the news landscape than in recent years, though it is still far from a solid recovery. After a decade of declining interest, loss of trust, and a shift in consumption toward environments increasingly mediated by platforms, 2026 shows some signs of improvement. Interest in the news is rebounding for the first time in four years: 54% of respondents say they are very or completely interested in current events, three points more than in 2025. There is also a slight recovery in trust: 33% say they usually trust the news in general, two points more than the previous year, and the average credibility average the Spanish news brands analyzed stands at 45%, up three points.
These data mean that Spain is returning to the media landscape that existed before the crisis of confidence, nor to model broad and diversified model a decade ago. Rather, this year’s report reflects a market full of contrasts, nuances, and even paradoxes, underpinned by two major trends. First, it is a market in which traditional ways of obtaining information coexist with new voices, channels, formats, and technologies. Second, as we have noted in previous editions, there is not a single audience, but rather several, shaped largely by their age, but above all by their attitude, trust, and interest in the news. The special section on how young people under the age of 24 get their news deserves special attention to understand these differences.
Within this dynamic market, traditional news brands and well-established digital-native media outlets coexist alongside relatively new media players: content creators or influencers. This report has examined how Spaniards use these profiles for news, and the data revealing: 23% of the audience has obtained news from influencers specializing in current events, and 24% from generalist content creators who focus on other topics but occasionally cover news.
Influencers are valued for their greater approachability, accessibility, and entertainment value, as opposed to the greater authenticity, timeliness, knowledge perceived impartiality of professional media outlets. Perhaps that is why it is no coincidence that the few people in Spain who pay for digital news (9%) subscribe to news organizations—whether traditional or new digital media outlets.
If we look at how people access information, television remains the primary reference letter most citizens (41% choose it as source of news), followed by social media (24%) and digital media (21%). In the case of social media, its use for news—which is more incidental than intentional—is not related to its credibility: only 19% regularly trust it. Nor is the information provided by search engines and AI chatbots perceived as more reliable (27% and 18%, respectively) than that of traditional news outlets. The latter, for their part, remain a benchmark for news, especially for those who are most interested in and trust the news. But access to them is becoming increasingly indirect, through back doors such as search engines, social media, aggregators, or—yet another player on the scene— AI . Not surprisingly, the issue news outlets used to stay informed is 40% lower than it was a decade ago (2.4 outlets compared to 3.9 in 2017); at the same time, nearly 10% do not use any news outlet in a given week, and 37% report having actively avoided the news over the past year.
This decline in per diem expenses has been studied in depth in this report , which examined the reasons for not using various sources of information. On the one hand, there are the “defectors” ( who used a source in the past source no longer do so), and on the other, the “immune” ( who have never used it). The first group particularly prevalent among television viewers: 66% of those who do not get their news from this channel did so in the past. In contrast, the “immune” group is more common among those who currently do not use print newspapers (50%) or the radio (40%).
Behind this decline in news consumption lurks the constant shadow of misinformation. Spaniards’ concern about fake news network reached an all-time high of 74% (+5 points compared to 2025 and +12 compared to 2022). What is troubling is that this wariness has begun to spread to segments of the population that previously considered themselves protected from or indifferent to the problem of hoaxes.
In light of this crisis of credibility in the digital sphere, this year’s report takes an in-depth look at evaluation respondents evaluation public media as sources of information. In Spain, the overall assessment remains moderately positive: 35% of citizens believe public media have a favorable impact on the country, compared to 28% who view them negatively and 37% who take a neutral stance. With these data, Spain avoids the levels of hostility seen in the most critical European countries, but remains far from those countries where the model enjoys unquestionable social support.
This moderate evaluation public media is not an isolated incident, but rather stems from an underlying distrust of journalists’ independence. When asked this year about this particular issue, Spaniards directed their criticism toward the intersection of political power, media ownership, and media funding. Specifically, an overwhelming 70% of respondents point to governments and political parties as the actors that most influence news coverage. Close behind, 65% point to media owners and parent companies, while 55% blame advertisers. Although this wariness toward external pressures is not unique to Spain, the Spanish case reinforces the idea that a significant portion of the audience consumes news with a constant suspicion of bias and control from sources outside journalism.
This report final paints a picture of an information ecosystem in constant transition, where the ways people used to stay informed coexist with dynamics that are still open-ended and uncertain. Within this landscape, news brands continue to occupy a central position in per diem expenses for a large portion of the population, but they share space with new intermediaries, platforms, creators, and technologies that are increasingly fragmenting the ways in which people access, consume, and engage with the news. At the same time, the data confirms that there is no single way to stay informed, nor is there a single audience: differences in age, interests, trust, or engagement lead to very different behaviors when faced with the same media environment.
KEY FINDINGS
Interest in news is rebounding after a decade of decline
One of the data positive data in 2026 is the resurgence of interest in the news. Fifty-four percent of Spaniards say they are very or extremely interested in current events—three percentage points more than in 2025 and the highest figure in the last four years. While this improvement does not erase the decline that has been building since 2018 (it remains thirty percentage points below the level recorded then), it fuels hope that the decline may have bottomed out, at least temporarily.
The increase in interest in news in 2026 is evident across nearly all age groups, although to varying degrees. The most pronounced increase is among those aged 65 and older, where the percentage of people who are very or extremely interested rises from 62% to 69%, and among adults aged 35 to 44, where it rises from 44% to 51%. Interest also increases among the group : among 18- to 24-year-olds, high interest rises from 28% to 33%. In this case, not only does interest increase, but disinterest also drops sharply, with those reporting little or no interest falling from 29% to 21%.
Gender differences also persist: men report a greater interest in current events than women. And differences based on educational and economic levels remain: people with higher training income tend to engage more deeply with the news.
Interest in the news also appears to be closely linked to interest in politics. In all groups, interest in politics is lower than interest in the news, but the two variables move in parallel. This financial aid why news remains an unequally distributed resource and financial aid those who are most engaged in public discourse are also the ones who stay the most informed. Conversely, those who stand on the sidelines of politics or do not identify with any particular ideology show much lower levels of interest in the news.
Slight improvement in confidence
Trust in the news shows a positive trend in 2026, but it is still insufficient. Thirty-three percent of Spaniards say that most news can generally be trusted most of the time, two points more than in 2025. In contrast, 39% do not trust the news. There has been an improvement, but the overall trend remains negative. Spain continues to rank below the average of the 48 countries analyzed and lags far behind Northern European countries, where credibility frequently exceeds 50%.
The most significant distinction once again lies in the gap between trust in the news in general and trust in the news that each individual consumes. While 33% trust the news in general, 42% trust the news they enquiry . This gap reflects a patron saint : many citizens distrust the news system in the abstract but place more credit their own sources. This reinforces the idea of a more selective and personalized form of trust, in which journalism as an institution enjoys less credibility than the brands chosen by individual citizens.
The recovery in trust is not evenly distributed across age groups. It is improving among younger groups, especially those under 45, although they remain more skeptical than the average. In contrast, it is declining among older adults, who until now had served as one of the main bastions of credibility. Those over 65 are now the only group in which the number of people who trust the media exceeds those who do not. Trust is no longer a given, even among those age groups that have traditionally been close to or loyal to the mainstream media.
Ideology continues to influence credibility. Those on the extremes are the most skeptical, while those in the center exhibit a profile more balanced profile . The source also matters: television viewers are the most trusting (41% trust it), while those who get their news mainly from social media are the most skeptical (24% trust it, compared to 47% who do not). This creates the paradox that social media is the main entrance information (31%), but it does not generate an equivalent level of trust. People use it for convenience, availability, and habit, but not because they perceive it as the most reliable channel.
The report also report a particularly revealing comparison between news outlets, search engines, social media, and chatbots. Search engines inspire more trust than social media and chatbots, though less than news outlets in general: 27% trust them and 35% do not. Social media and chatbots rank at the lowest levels: only 19% trust social media and 18% trust AI responses, compared to 50% and 46% who distrust them, respectively.
The Concentration of News Consumption: Fewer Sources and Brands
In 2026, Spaniards use average . average news sources per week, compared to 3.9 in 2017. This is not simply a matter of television being replaced by social media, print media by mobile devices, or radio by podcasts. The underlying phenomenon is a concentration of consumption: each citizen enquiry sources and operates within a narrower range of information.
This change has significant implications for pluralism. One in three Spaniards currently gets their news from a single source. Furthermore, although the percentage of those who use more than five news outlets has risen slightly for the first time since 2016, the overall trend over the past decade shows that the diversity of news outlets consulted has declined sharply. In 2016, more than eight out of ten users consumed news from five or more outlets weekly; by 2026, that proportion stands at around 51%. At the same time, the group does not consume news from any outlet has reached 10%, the highest level in the entire data series.
Television illustrates this transformation well. It remains the most widely used source , at 56%, but has lost more than twenty percentage points since 2017. What is significant is that its decline is not due to a generation that never used it in the first place, but rather to a process of withdrawal abandonment. Among those who do not currently use television weekly to stay informed, two out of three used to do so. Spain is one of the European countries where the lack of television use most clearly reflects the loss of a previous habit: it is no longer part of the weekly routine for a significant portion of those who previously incorporated it into their lives.
Radio and print newspapers follow a different logic. Their problem is not so much the withdrawal a previous audience as it is a lack of adoption or immunity. Nearly half of those who do not currently use radio or print media as weekly sources never did so in the first place. In these cases, the challenge is challenge only to win back former users but also to build a habit among audiences for whom these media were never central. While television can attempt to reactivate or reconnect with former audiences, print media and radio face the challenge convincing audiences who have never used them.
Spain, one of the countries with the most frequent news broadcasts
One of the innovative contributions of report is its specific study of news consumption habits and routines. The data the notion of completely chaotic or improvised consumption. Spain emerges as one of the markets with the most stable habits among the countries analyzed. Thirty-five percent of respondents say their news routines remain the same every day, and another 43% say they remain consistent, though they may vary. Only 17% describe their behavior as different each day.
This stability, however, is not uniform. Half of the respondents use the same devices every day to stay informed, and 38% consistently use the same sources and platforms. In contrast, the times of day and the daily frequency of enquiry more widely.
Age is the most significant distinguishing factor. Young people aged 18 to 24 vary more in terms of times, locations, frequency, and media than older adults. As age increases, habits become more stable. At the same time, those who get their news primarily from television have more established routines: times, locations, and media are repeated more frequently.
In contrast, those who use social media as source model news exhibit more varied habits. These trends confirm that television still fits into a fixed and intentional news model , while social media operates in a continuous, mobile, and incidental flow.
Stability depends not only on interest or trust, but also on the channel’s architecture. On the one hand, newsletters, email alerts, and direct access to news websites or apps are associated with more stable habits. Conversely, social media, search engines, news aggregators, and mobile alerts are linked to more variable consumption patterns. When a Username the initial connection with a brand or its own channel, user engagement tends to be more loyal. When news is filtered through third-party platforms, the relationship becomes more dependent on the moment, the algorithm, and the context of use.
Misinformation, Impartiality, and Independence
Concerns about misinformation reach an all-time high in 2026. Seventy-four percent of Spaniards are concerned about distinguishing between what is true and what is false in online news, five percentage points more than in 2025 and twelve more than in 2022. Indifference leave 19%, and the percentage of those who are not concerned falls to 7%. This increase has an interesting characteristic: it stems not so much from groups that were already very concerned becoming even more so, but rather from the spread of that concern to segments where it was previously less intense. It is growing particularly among men, those with low incomes, and those with lower levels educational. It is also increasing among citizens on the right, although concern remains higher on the left and in the center. Misinformation is no longer an issue limited to highly mobilized groups but has become a widespread social concern.
It is important, however, to interpret the data correctly. The fact that Spain ranks among the European countries most concerned about hoaxes does not necessarily mean that there is more disinformation there than elsewhere. The question measures perception, not Issue of false content, and that is precisely why it is relevant: sample disinformation has taken root in the public consciousness as a structural problem within the information landscape. It may reflect exhibition dubious content, experiences on social media, discussion about hoaxes, distrust of platforms, or a broader suspicion of the media system.
That suspicion also arises when the independence of journalists is called into question. Spaniards believe that governments and political parties are the actors that most influence news coverage, at 70%. They are followed by media owners and parent companies, at 65%, and advertisers, at 55%. The public focuses on the intersection of political power, ownership, and funding. This criticism is not unique to our country, but in the Spanish context, it confirms the perception that a large portion of the audience interprets the news with a suspicion of external influences.
At the same time, Spaniards prefer to get their information from media outlets perceived as neutral, without a defined point of view (50%), compared to those who use the media to corroborate their ideas (15%) and those who opt for media that challenge them (18%). The comparison with 2020 is significant: the proportion of people seeking confirmation of their own opinions has fallen from 30% to 15%, while the proportion seeking to test their ideas has risen from 10% to 18%. Neutrality remains the dominant ideal, but there is growing recognition of the value of exposing oneself to differing viewpoints.
Content Creators: Connection, Understanding, and Entertainment
Another new development this year is the study of the popularity of so-called content creators or influencers. The data that 40% of the Spanish audience consumes news through these new media figures. Specifically, 23% turn to creators who specialize in news and current events, and 24% to generalist creators who typically post about other topics but occasionally cover the news. Therefore, information no longer circulates solely through media outlets, journalists, or platforms, but also through individual figures—some of B —who combine current events, opinion, entertainment, and staff interaction staff their audience.
Age is once again a decisive factor. Nearly half of young people aged 18 to 24 consume news from general-interest creators (46%)—nearly double the average—which shows that, for some young people, current events do not necessarily come from channels specifically defined as news outlets. They can appear on accounts focused on entertainment, lifestyle, knowledge dissemination, humor, sports, or digital culture. News is integrated into the feed of personalities that the Username follows for other reasons.
Creators connect with their audience through qualities that traditional media don’t always manage to convey: relatability, understanding, and entertainment. Among young people, the difference is particularly pronounced. Forty percent believe that news influencers are more entertaining than traditional media; 39% perceive them as more relatable; and 31% believe they are easier to understand. Conversely, content creators lag clearly behind news media in the attributes most closely linked to the journalism profession. Thirty-one percent consider them to be inferior in terms of authenticity, staying up to date on the news (29%), knowledge 35%), reliability (37%), and impartiality (36%). The audience therefore recognizes their ability to make the news more understandable, relatable, or engaging, but does not necessarily attribute the same professional credibility to them.
The most sensitive finding is that people who seek out news that aligns with their point of view show greater trust in the influencers as source . These new players can reinforce highly cohesive communities of interpretation, where staff ideological affinity carries as much weight as the quality of the information. At the same time, there are also users who turn to them despite having a strong interest in the news. Therefore, they should not be viewed solely as a symptom of disinterest or trivialization, but rather as part of a media ecosystem in which the boundaries between journalism, commentary, knowledge dissemination entertainment have become more porous.
Young People and the News: The Generation Gap Widens
Never before has a generation been so connected and, at the same time, so disconnected from conventional news coverage. Young people access news less frequently, show less interest, trust it less, and use sources that are very different from those of the general population. The most telling statistic is that 53% of young people are “news-disengaged” and report very low levels of trust in and interest in the news, compared to 35% of the general population.
The frequency of news consumption confirms this gap. Only 39% of young people access the news several times a day, compared to 50% of the total population. The percentage of people under 25 who never consume news reaches 7%, double that of the general population. Furthermore, although young people’s interest has improved since 2025, the long-term gap persists. Young people remain the group interested in the news and the one most distanced from traditional news-consumption habits.
Trust exacerbates the problem. Only one in four young people trust the news in general—eight points below the average—and 48% are skeptical. Even when asked about the news they consume, the percentage of skeptics exceeds that of those who trust the news, contrary to what is seen in the rest of the population.
The great paradox among young people lies in social media. Nearly half of young people identify social media as their source of news, compared to 24% of the general population. However, 55% distrust the news they find on social media, and only 15% trust it. Young people don’t use social media because they believe it’s the most reliable environment, but because that’s where they are, where content circulates, where current events appear, and where other actors (content creators, friends, algorithms) make the news part of their daily feed.
Television, radio, and the press play a much smaller role in their per diem expenses . Only 38% of young people used television as source of news—nearly twenty percentage points below the average—and only 23% identify it as source . Furthermore, 44% of young people report having previously used television weekly to stay informed but having since stopped doing so. For radio and print media, non-adoption is even more pronounced: 56% have never used radio to stay informed, and 64% have never used print media. For these sources, the generational issue is one of entrance, not just of withdrawal.
Young people are also the group AI and content creators are gaining the most traction. Up to 19% of young people have used AI chatbots as source of news—eleven percentage points above the average. And 46% consume news from general-interest creators, nearly double the rate for the general population. Furthermore, they view news influencers much more positively than adults do: they consider them more entertaining, relatable, understandable, and authentic. A shift in legitimacy is taking place here. For many young people, informational authority does not necessarily come from an institutional brand, but rather from a person who explains, interprets, comments on, and connects current events with recognizable cultural codes.
Public Media: Social Utility and Political Criticism
This report once again delves into evaluation of public media. The data Spain are moderately positive: 35% believe they have a positive impact on the country, compared with 28% who view them negatively and 37% who hold a neutral view. Spain is not among the most critical European countries, but neither is it among those where public media enjoy broad support. In fact, among European countries as a whole, it ranks 11th out of 21 in terms of evaluation of public media, slightly below the average (38%) and 26 points below Norway (61%), the country where public media receive the most support. Furthermore, this evaluation strongly ideologically driven: the negative gap between the right and the left stands at 35 points (48% of those on the right view it negatively, compared to 14% of those on the left).
Among those who view public media positively, the main reason is that it ensures access for the entire population to important national and regional news (54%). Other reasons mentioned include reliability (43%), support for democracy (40%), journalistic quality (38%), and the representation of diverse perspectives (38%). In contrast, independence from political or commercial influences is rated as a very minor factor (26%). In fact, the main criticism centers precisely on political interference in public media (74%) and is particularly high among those on the right (80%).
Overall, the data that attitudes toward public media are deeply ideologically driven in Spain. Fifty percent of those on the left view them positively, compared with 14% who view them negatively; on the right, the percentages are reversed, with 48% holding a negative view and 22% a positive one.
Dissatisfaction with the coverage of emigration, the Economics climate change
The issues that generate the greatest dissatisfaction with news coverage among Spaniards are immigration, the cost of living, and climate change. In contrast, coverage of Donald Trump’s second term, the war in Ukraine, and the conflict in the Middle East receives somewhat less negative or more neutral evaluations. The difference appears to be related to the proximity and emotional impact of the issues. Issues most closely linked to daily life, identity, or internal social tensions generate more criticism among respondents than international events, where distance perhaps allows for a assessment polarized assessment .
Ideology is once again a decisive factor. People on the right view coverage of immigration, the cost of living, and climate change much more negatively. Young people and social media users are also more critical of the media’s treatment of these issues. In contrast, those with high interest and high trust tend to rate work more favorably. Therefore, the perception of the quality of coverage depends not only on the published content, but also on Username prior engagement Username the news, their source , and their ideological position.
Social media: more of entrance source
In 2026, social media solidified its leadership as a channel for accessing digital news. Following a decline the previous year, its share as a channel used to access information rose from 38% to 42%, while its share as the primary channel increased from 28% to 31%. It is once again the top single gateway entrance news. This is followed by access through news organizations, which maintains a significant presence (49%) and is the primary channel for 37% of respondents. Finally, access through search engines also grows, from 44% to 47%, but it is the primary source of information for only 30% of users.
Generally speaking, algorithmic channels reach 60% of respondents and are the primary gateway for nearly half of those who get their news online (49%). This does not mean that the brand disappears. In fact, direct access to media websites and apps remains at 26%, and the total brand reach improves slightly compared to 2025. But brands are increasingly dependent on their ability to appear within third-party platforms: search engines, social networks, aggregators, alerts, or recommendations. For media outlets, the challenge of producing relevant information is compounded by the need to ensure that this information is visible in environments where distribution is controlled by third parties.
News You Search For vs. News You Stumble Upon
The use of social media platforms for news consumption sample increasingly polycentric ecosystem. Instagram Facebook practically tied for the lead, with 32% and 31% respectively, marking a significant shift: after a decade-long decline from 48% in 2018 to 24% in 2025, Facebook partially rebounded this year, but Instagram which in 2017 barely reached 6%) slightly surpasses it. WhatsApp remains close behind (29%) and reinforces the private and conversational nature of news circulation. YouTube at 19%, while X TikTok tied at 16%, the latter following very rapid growth since 2020 (when it barely reached 1%).
Age radically segments the use of these platforms for information. Instagram the reference letter , with 51% of users under 24, followed by TikTok 27% in that same group); Facebook, on the other hand, is much more popular among those over 65 (40%) and has only marginal use among young people; X most popular among those aged 25 to 34 (35%), and WhatsApp has a profile cross-sectional profile , with relatively stable usage rates that are slightly higher among those over 55 (32%). That is why talking about social media in general is becoming less and less accurate.
The distinction between intentional and incidental consumption is one of the report most significant findings. YouTube X the platforms where the most users go specifically to get news: 54% on YouTube 51% on X they do so for that purpose. In contrast, Instagram, Facebook TikTok primarily as spaces where news appears while users are doing other things (around 60% of respondents say they come across news incidentally on these platforms). These data explain why social media platforms are both central and, at the same time, unreliable: often, users do not log in to get news, but they end up receiving it anyway.
AI Chatbots and the Problem of Clicking Through to Original Sources
The report includes, for the first time, a question that is particularly important for the future of media traffic: when users access news through search engines, social media, or AI chatbots, do they click on links that take them to the original sources of information? The comparison sample environments with different dynamics. On search engines, 53% of users always or often click on the original sources, compared to 46% on social media and 38% on chatbots.
This difference is significant because it foreshadows a structural problem for the media. search engine links and maintain the source the natural destination. Social networks tend to keep the Username the platform’s flow, although they still allow for relatively frequent traffic to the source. The chatbot, on the other hand, offers a detailed answer that may be sufficient for the Username. The source less visible or serves as a secondary reference. If the information experience shifts toward concise answers, the incentive to visit the original source diminishes.
The motivations for clicking on sources vary by subject . On search engines and social media, the main reason for going to the source is to get more information, because Username more details (59%). With chatbots, this motivation is less significant (44%), because the tool itself tool summarizes or provides context. In contrast, there is growing interest in knowing where the information comes from and identifying the source of what they have just received (41%, ten points higher than search engines and social media). The motivation to verify the information, however, has not increased: it stands at 27%, below that of search engines and social media.
The paradox is that leave in chatbots does not necessarily lead to more fact-checking. Although only 18% trust their factual responses and 46% are skeptical, the motivation to verify whether the news was accurate is no higher than on social media or search engines. Skepticism, on its own, does not create fact-checking habits if the environment does not make it easy to trace the information back to its source. The future of the relationship between AI and the media will depend, to a large extent, on whether the generated responses keep the connection to the original sources visible, accessible, and necessary.
Video, Devices, and Smart TVs
News videos are establishing themselves as the dominant format in Spain. 75% of users say they have watched news videos online in the past week, four percentage points more than in 2025. This growth is not limited to young people: it reaches 85% of those under 34, but also 70% of those over 55. Online audiovisual news is no longer just a format for young people; it has become a standard way to access current events.
News videos are not primarily consumed on media outlets’ own platforms, but rather on platforms where they compete with entertainment, staff communications staff content from creators. Instagram as the leading platform for consuming news videos (30%), followed by YouTube 27%) and Facebook 26%). TikTok 22%) has also surpassed video consumption on news websites and apps (20%).
Short-form content dominates Instagram, TikTok, Facebook X. More than 80% of news consumption on several of these platforms occurs through short videos. YouTube a more hybrid approach: it allows for both short-form content and longer pieces, analyses, or in-depth explanations. This difference has editorial implications. Short-form video favors quick engagement, exhibition , and algorithmic circulation. Long-form video allows for more context, depth, and audience loyalty. Media outlets need both formats if they want to compete in the contemporary audiovisual landscape.
The smartphone remains the primary screen for news: 79% of adults who go online use it weekly to check the news, and 95% use it for some purpose. No other device comes close, although the computer holds its own at 54%, and smart TVs appear for the first time with 54% of users accessing information on them. This last figure is significant because sample connected TV can become a hybrid space between traditional television and on-demand digital consumption.
The coexistence of different devices suggests that the smartphone has not replaced all other screens. The computer continues to play an important role, especially among men and young adults, possibly due to more extensive or intentional use. Smart TVs are profile adults in the home. Tablet usage remains at intermediate levels, while smart speakers and smartwatches continue to be used primarily for secondary purposes.
Minority, distrustful, and instrumental use of AI
Eight percent of respondents reported having used AI as source during the week prior to the survey, compared to 6% in 2025. That figure drops to 5% when respondents are asked about their use of a specific chatbot . Both figures confirm that the use of AI for news, while still limited, is growing compared to 2025. Its adoption is most prevalent among younger men with Education income and Education levels. Its use among 18- to 24-year-olds reaches 14%, compared to 3% among those over 55.
Spanish users who turn to chatbots primarily seek to delve deeper into a news story (41%), summarize content (30%), request the latest news (24%), make the information easier to understand (22%), or find and evaluate sources (21%). Therefore, AI functions less as a means of communication and more as an assistant for reading, contextualization, and translation, solving specific problems (language, time, complexity, summarization, speed, and the ability to keep asking questions).
That utility goes hand in hand with very leave trust. Only 18% of Spaniards trust the information provided by chatbots and 46% are skeptical, which reveals that part of its appeal stems from its usefulness, not from its journalistic authority. Username rely on it to clarify, translate, or summarize a news story, but not necessarily to delegate the entire selection of news to it. For the media, AI poses a twofold challenge. On the one hand, it can help make information more accessible, understandable, and personalized. On the other hand, it can further weaken the direct link to sources if the generated response replaces a visit the media outlet. The core topic is core topic just whether citizens use chatbots, and also whether those chatbots They maintain attribution, traceability, and traffic to news brands—the original producers of information. News-based AI is not yet widespread, but it introduces a new logic in which the Username an answer rather than a webpage.
Quality and differentiation: the keys to the niche pay-for-news model
Payment for digital news remains a internship in Spain. Only 9% of respondents reported having paid for digital news content or subscribed to a paid digital news service in the past year. This figure is clearly below the average of 15% and far behind Northern European countries such as Norway and Sweden. Furthermore, when payments for both print and digital news are combined, three out of four Spaniards did not pay for either format—the highest percentage in the entire series.
The profile payer is quite recognizable: male, young, with a higher level educational, higher income, and a greater interest in current events. The main driver of payment is not trust in the abstract, but rather an interest in the information. People pay because a news story is useful (29%), because they like the content (29%), because they want to support journalism (25%), or because there is an attractive offer (24%). Traditional news organizations account for the majority of subscriptions (37%), followed by digital-native newspapers (26%) and specialized news services (24%).
In general, Spain has a relatively engaged audience, but one that is not accustomed to paying for news. The abundance of free content, widespread mistrust, the concentration of consumption, and dependence on platforms all make conversion difficult. Subscriptions may be a necessary path for media outlets, but they do not seem sufficient on their own to offset the loss of advertising traffic resulting from changes in social media, search engines, and AI. Users do not pay for generic news, but rather for content they perceive as valuable, useful, entertaining, exclusive, or relevant to their interests. In an environment where social media, creators, and chatbots Since they offer free, personalized, and concise information, media outlets must better justify the added value : depth, fact-checking, context, specialization, local journalism, research community engagement.
Face-to-face conversation trumps online forums
News engagement in Spain in 2026 reveals a particularly telling trend: face-to-face conversations are on the rise. Seventy-eight percent of respondents engaged in some form of news-related activity during the past week (+3 pp), and the most common activity was not commenting on social media or posting opinions, but rather discussing the news with others face-to-face. Forty-three percent did so, seven points more than the previous year.
This data financial aid qualify the notion that news engagement has shifted entirely to the digital sphere. The most visible and public forms financial aid (commenting on social media, participating on news websites, posting opinions) remain in the minority. Commenting on news stories on social media accounts for 12%, and doing so on media websites accounts for 6%. In contrast, reading comments, sharing news, and talking with others carry much more weight. Participation in Spain is more conversational than activist, more everyday than public. Current events continue to circulate as subject social conversation, even when trust in the media is limited or people’s relationship with the news becomes fragmented. This conversational dimension is important because sample news matters not only when consumed individually, but also when it serves to generate conversations, share concerns, and foster social connections.
