The pandemic accelerated certain trends in the information market, such as the decline in the audiences and profitability of printed newspapers, the primacy of the cell phone as the most widely used information device, and the slow but unstoppable penetration of formats such as videos and podcasts. On the other hand, it slightly slowed down the loss of trust in news and the secular reluctance to pay for it. One year later, the survey Digital News Report Spain 2022 offers new data on attitudes and information consumption habits. As detailed in the following pages, there are some bright spots in the panorama, but also some bleaker ones that are on the way to becoming chronic.
Among the favorable trends is the rapid transition from model from free to subscription among the audience most interested in news, driven by the majority of Spanish newspaper companies. It is also a society concerned about disinformation, with an enormous participatory nature in all 46 countries included in the global study, and open to the consumption of news podcasts and videos.
At the other extreme, some of this year's data confirm disturbing trends, not only for news organizations, but for society as a whole. As will be seen below, interest and trust in the news are at historically low levels, and the issue of respondents who perceive the news media as dependent on political and business lobbies is on the rise. As a consequence, the information per diem expenses of that group of skeptics is increasingly less varied and plural, more digital and focused on social networks, and with a growing problem of deliberate avoidance of news, out of weariness, fatigue or distrust. Finally, who is suffering most from this transformation of a significant part of Spanish audiences are the so-called traditional media, which despite remaining the favorite choice of most respondents, see their leadership endangered by social networks and digital native media.
In contrast to this group indifferent and even critical towards information, there is still another segment of the population that is very interested and concerned about public affairs, especially the closest and most local ones. Although not immune to the generalized loss of credibility, this group continues to trust the main news brands, both digital and traditional, and is even willing to pay or at least give up their personal data to access their favorite news.
The most immediate conclusion from the existence of these two groups is that we cannot speak of a single audience, but rather of a dual market, in which two types of audiences coexist, whose different needs and attitudes towards news condition to a large extent their news habits, which are also different. The existence of these two groups helps to explain some apparently contradictory trends, as will be described in the following pages.
Finally, belonging to one group or another depends to a large extent on the age factor, with young people presenting radically different habits and attitudes towards information than older people: more critical, disinterested and skeptical, mostly digital, who have made cell phones and social networks their favorite means to learn about current affairs, share news and participate in their own way in the public discussion .
These are some of the conclusions drawn from the data of the 9th edition of the report Digital News Report Spain, based on 2028 surveys of adult Spanish Internet users, conducted in the second half of January and the first half of February 2022. The Digital News Report is the largest global study on news consumption, coordinated by the Reuters Institute of the University of Oxford, and of which the School of Communication of the University of Navarra is an academic partner since the 2014 edition.
Less media used and more disinterest in the news
According to this year's data , the majority of Spaniards (58%) regularly use five or more media outlets for information, compared to 22% who reported having consulted two or less during the week prior to the survey. Although it is still an indicator of a varied informative per diem expenses , the trend of the last five years is worrying. In 2018, 77% of respondents were informed by five or more media, eighteen percentage points more than today. At the other extreme, just 9% then claimed to use two or fewer brands to stay informed, fourteen percentage points lower than in 2022. Compared with the 46 countries where the study was carried out, Spain does not fare well either: 67% of those surveyed worldwide are informed by five or more media and only 17% use two or fewer.
Not surprisingly, the decline in the issue of media used runs parallel to the drop in interest in news. In the last eight years, the percentage of Spaniards very interested (totally or very much) in information has fallen thirty points, from 85% in 2015 to 55% in 2022. Likewise, the percentage of those disinterested in news has increased tenfold over this period of time: from 1% to 11%. Despite these figures, the survey sample that proximity information continues to have a good evaluation among Spanish Internet users: six out of ten respondents (63%) are interested in local or regional news. Other important subjects that attract almost half of Internet users are news about coronavirus (47%), international news (46%), culture (44%), science and technology (42%), and politics (41%).
News is avoided because of weariness, discouragement or distrust.
In addition to the loss of interest and the reduction in the number of media usually used to stay informed, the survey sample shows an increase in the issue of people who deliberately avoid the news. Specifically, one third of respondents (35%) often or sometimes avoid being informed, and one in ten does so frequently (10%). On the other hand, almost three out of ten users never avoid information (28%).
The three main reasons stated for avoiding the news were that they were fed up with excessive coverage of topics such as politics or the coronavirus (44%), the negative influence of the news on the mood of the respondents (30%) and distrust of information (28%). Other less cited causes for avoiding the news are related to the fact that they are the source of arguments (17%), the feeling of helplessness for not doing anything with the information (15%), the lack of time to be informed (9%) or the lack of understanding of the news (7%).
Mistrust of news worsens, extending to journalistic brands
For the first time since the Digital News Report Spain reports have been published (2014), the percentage of those who do not trust the news in general (39%) exceeds that of those who usually do (32%). Despite the slight recovery in credibility observed last year, the loss of trust has been continuous since 2017, a year in which more than half of respondents reported trusting the media (51%) and only 24% were skeptical of the news. The data are even more worrying when compared to the other 45 markets included in the global study. Overall, 42% of respondents trust the media compared to 27% who do not. Specifically, Spain is among the ten countries with the lowest news credibility.
The analysis of trust in news by age group sample shows two well-defined trends in Spain. On the one hand, the traditional distrust among younger users has worsened: more than half (51%) of those under 35 years of age do not trust the news, compared to 21% who do. Secondly, skepticism is spreading among more advanced age groups, which until this year had declared themselves to be mostly trusting of the news: among respondents aged 45 to 54, trust has plummeted nine percentage points and there is now a majority of those who do not trust (34%) compared to those who do (30%).
The analysis of the credibility of a sample of 14 Spanish journalistic brands reveals the consolidation of two trends that have been observed in recent years. Firstly, respondents report having more confidence in specific brands than in news "in general". In this sense, Antena 3 and regional/local newspapers repeat as the most valued by Spanish users who know them (46% trust them). Secondly, the credibility of the brands analyzed has been weakening over the years and, for the first time since this question has been asked, no journalistic brand analyzed enjoys the trust of more than 50% of those surveyed. All of them have lost credit in the last year. Looking back, in 2020, 51% of respondents trusted brands; two years later, that average has fallen by more than 11 percentage points to 39%.
Journalistic independence under suspicion
This year's survey recovered from 2017 some questions on the Degree of political and business independence of the media perceived by respondents. The data shows an increase of issue of Spaniards who consider that usually the media are not independent of pressure from politicians (from 57% in 2017 to 61% in 2022) or business groups (from 55% in 2017 to 57% in 2022). Only 13% of Spanish users trust the independence of the media in the face of politicians and 15% in the face of commercial influences, five points less than in 2017. Spain is the second European country with the second worst public perception of the independence of its news companies in the face of political pressures -only behind Greece (7%) and sharing place with Italy (13%)- and in the face of commercial pressures.
In addition, there is a general perception among those surveyed that all or most of the media subordinate the general interest to their commercial (56%) or political (53%) interests. In contrast, only 11% of those surveyed consider that the media companies put the common good before their commercial interests or political opinions (14%).
Finally, almost half of Spaniards (49%) consider that the main media companies are very distant from each other from an ideological point of view, compared to 36% who believe that they are close. If we compare it with the rest of the countries where this question has been asked, we can see that Spain is the country with the second highest perception of ideological distance between the media, only behind Poland (54%). In the 43 countries where this question was asked, the majority of those who consider that news companies are more politically close (51%) than distant (31%).
Although minor, concern about hoaxes remains high
The concern of Spaniards about hoaxes circulating on the Internet continues to be high, although it is lower than in previous years. 62% of respondents are concerned about knowing what is true and what is false about digital content, compared to 12% who say they are not interested in this issue. This is the most leave concern in Spain since 2018 (69%), when this question was first asked. However, in comparative terms it is still a high figure compared to the other 46 markets analyzed, where 54% are concerned about hoaxes compared to 16% who are not. Spain is, after Portugal, the European country with the greatest concern about misinformation.
The slight drop in concern about hoaxes has been accompanied by a lower exhibition of Spaniards to this subject of pernicious content. 71% claim to have seen some false or misleading information subject in the week prior to the survey, four points less than in 2021. Most of them had to do with health issues (56%), especially covid (52%), followed by politics (43%).
Social networks threaten the leadership of TV
After a slight recovery over the past year, television continues its slow but inevitable decline as the information source most used by the majority of respondents. While in 2014, 84% of Internet users had used this medium to stay informed, in 2022, 59% used it, five points less than last year. Meanwhile, information consumption through social networks remained stable (56%). As can be seen, only three percentage points separate both types of media from leading information consumption. In the case of younger people, social networks have already imposed themselves and are the most used news source by six out of ten Spaniards under 45 years of age (60%) compared to four out of ten television users (43%).
Taking all sources together, the majority of respondents are more informed through online media -including social networks- (79%) than through traditional offline media (radio, press and television) (70%), which lost four points compared to the previous year. In fact, the preference for digital sources and devices occurs from early in the morning: 50% of respondents connect through their mobile, computer or tablet to catch up with information first thing in the morning.
A similar trend occurs when respondents are asked about their favorite source to stay informed. Although television is still the preferred option for Spaniards (38%), it has lost relevance at the expense of social networks (23%). In general, and following the trend started in 2016, online sources - including social networks - have been gradually gaining ground over traditional media such as the press, radio and television: internet users prefer almost as much online media (49%) as traditional offline media (51%).
Traditional brands resist against native brands
When respondents were asked about the specific brands with which they are usually informed, data showed two trends that have been consolidating over the last few years. On the one hand, traditional brands(legacy average) have not only managed to capitalize on their brand in the digital market in terms of audience but also loyalty: they tend to be the most consulted and their audience goes to them much more frequently. On the other hand, digital native media have established themselves in the digital market as an alternative for many respondents, but still have some room for improvement in terms of loyalty.
Successful subscriptions and awakening of news registration
The data on the status of paying for news in Spain shows certain apparently contradictory facts. Despite the fact that the majority of respondents (67%) declare that they do not pay anything to obtain information, neither printed nor digital, and that the total issue of people who paid for digital news is identical to last year (11.7%), there has been an extraordinary increase in the most promoted (and profitable) payment modality by the newspaper industry: subscriptions. Forty-two percent of those paying for digital news opted for regular payment as a subscriber (up eleven points from 2020) and 31% chose a joint subscription to a print and/or digital media package (up eight points from two years ago). In contrast, other types of payment such as donations or memberships (from 16% in 2020 to 9% in 2022) and free news included in the purchase of another non-news product or service (from 36% to 25%) have been reduced.
Another encouraging fact for news companies is that, if until last year most of those who paid did so only for one news service, this year almost half (49%) say they pay for two or more digital news subscriptions. All these data have two important readings. Firstly, the concentration of payment around the market leaders is reduced -the first one no longer takes it all-. And secondly, in the face of widespread resistance to paying for information, paying for news is beginning to become a normalized habit, at least among the most loyal and interested readers.
In addition to subscriptions, some digital news media require users to register as a prior step to accessing their content. In most cases, readers have to provide some personal data , including their e-mail, if they wish to access all the news offered by the media. This year, the report Digital News Report Spain delves into the perception that citizens have of this internship and its Degree acceptance.
The data show that registration is not a very widespread internship in Spain: only 24% of those surveyed say they have registered in the last year, compared to 70% who have not done so. This is lower than the average figure declared in the 22 countries where this issue has been analyzed (28%, four points more than in Spain).
More algorithms, less branding
With regard to the entrance gateway to the information usually used by Spaniards, this year's data once again reflects the growing loss of weight of journalistic brands compared to social networks, search engines and aggregators. Thus, 62% of respondents access news through the algorithms of platforms and networks, compared to 50% who chose the journalistic brand directly (via web, app or direct search). However, there are significant differences in the access made by those under 45 years of age (half access through networks) compared to those over that age, who continue to prefer journalistic brands (40%).
Finally, the specific analysis of the most used social networks in Spain to stay informed sample shows that almost half of Internet users use Facebook or Twitter to access current affairs (47%) and that more than a third use instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Telegram (36%). Again, there are significant differences between young people under 35, who prefer Twitter (31%) and Instagram (25%), and those over that age, closer to Facebook (38%) and WhatsApp (34%).
Spaniards continue to be among the most participative
Once again this year, Spanish Internet users are among the most participative of the 46 markets analyzed in the global study. In Spain, almost seven out of ten respondents share, comment on or rate a digital news item on a weekly basis (69%), three percentage points less than last year. Specifically, Spaniards excel in sharing information: half do so regularly (49%, ten points more than the international average), especially through instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Telegram (35%).
Finally, once the confinement measures are over, Spaniards have recovered the tradition of talking face-to-face with friends and colleagues. Almost 40% do so, three percentage points more than the international average and nine points more than a year ago.
Podcasting continues to triumph in Spain
Spain is one of the countries analyzed where most people listen to podcasts: 41% of those surveyed say they do so monthly or more frequently, compared to 36% of average in twenty-three markets studied. The popularity of this sound product has grown especially among younger people (18 to 24 years old), and more than 62% of this segment now listen to it at least once a month. In addition, in 2022, listening to this product has become more popular among those under 44 years of age (50%).
Spanish Internet users continue to prefer podcasts on specialized topics (science and technology, Economics and business, media, health, etc.) (16%) and lifestyle (15%). They are followed by current affairs (news, politics and international events) (13%), social affairs and events (11%), and sports (7%).
Finally, YouTube (30%), Spotify (26%) and iVoox (19%) are the most used platforms to search and listen to podcasts, but the use of websites or media apps for the same purpose (12%) has grown two percentage points in the last year.
The cell phone, the main device for information
There are few surprises when asked about the devices most used by Spaniards to consume digital news. The mobile continues to be the king, with more than 75% declaring that they use it regularly for this purpose. This is more than double the second most used device, the computer (36%), although the latter continues to have a significant acceptance among the over 55s, half of whom continue to use it (48%).
Other more minority devices such as smart TVs offer similar consumption figures to the previous year (25%), despite the fact that their overall use, not strictly informational, has increased eight points in 2022, from 46% to 54%.
Climate change coverage
The Spanish public pays attention to news on climate change in a very majority of cases. Only 11% declare that they do not pay attention to any source information on this issue. The preferred sources of information are scientists, experts and academics (46%), followed by the media (37%).
More than half (53%) believe that the media should focus their attention on the measures that governments and companies should take to address climate change, and 49% believe that the media should adopt a non-neutral position on this issue topic, positioning themselves in favor of taking action to combat it. In contrast, 31% believe that the media should reflect the different opinions that exist on the problem and let their audiences decide.
