The average daily time spent with digital media in the United States is expected to increase from 439 minutes (seven hours and 19 minutes) in 2022 to close to eight hours in 2025. Higher online media consumption in 2020 was partially attributed to the coronavirus outbreak. Impact of COVID-19 on media consumption In-home media consumption grew sharply in March 2020 in the first stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 40 percent of U.S. respondents reported spending more time watching shows and films on streaming services, and 25 percent were reading books or listening to audiobooks more than usual. Despite predictions that this spike in media usage would fall after the initial implementation of shelter-in-place orders, consumers also continued spending more time with media in the summer of 2020. The same survey, held in July that year, also asked participants about their plans to continue with their increased media consumption after the pandemic has run its course. This garnered different responses, with only a handful of U.S. adults planning to carry on investing more time in most media activities. Again though, watching movies and shows on streaming platforms and reading or listening to books were the most popular options.

A global survey conducted in March 2020 revealed that the coronavirus has had a direct impact on in-home media consumption around the world, with ** percent of total respondents professing to have read more books or listened to more audiobooks at home and ** percent having listened to more radio due to the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst more than ** percent of consumers spent longer on messaging services and social media. Interestingly, although at least ** percent of respondents in most countries said that they were watching more news coverage, figures for Australia and the United States were lower, amounting to just ** and ** percent respectively. Australians were also the least likely to be reading more newspapers; just **** percent of consumers said that they were doing so compared to the global total of ** percent. Whilst ** percent of Italians were spending longer on messaging services, in Japan the same was true for only ***** percent of respondents, and survey participants from China and the Philippines were by far the most likely to be spending more time on music streaming services.For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

During a 2024 survey, 77 percent of respondents from Nigeria stated that they used social media as a source of news. In comparison, just 23 percent of Japanese respondents said the same. Large portions of social media users around the world admit that they do not trust social platforms either as media sources or as a way to get news, and yet they continue to access such networks on a daily basis.

              Social media: trust and consumption

              Despite the majority of adults surveyed in each country reporting that they used social networks to keep up to date with news and current affairs, a 2018 study showed that social media is the least trusted news source in the world. Less than 35 percent of adults in Europe considered social networks to be trustworthy in this respect, yet more than 50 percent of adults in Portugal, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Croatia said that they got their news on social media.

              What is clear is that we live in an era where social media is such an enormous part of daily life that consumers will still use it in spite of their doubts or reservations. Concerns about fake news and propaganda on social media have not stopped billions of users accessing their favorite networks on a daily basis.
              Most Millennials in the United States use social media for news every day, and younger consumers in European countries are much more likely to use social networks for national political news than their older peers.
              Like it or not, reading news on social is fast becoming the norm for younger generations, and this form of news consumption will likely increase further regardless of whether consumers fully trust their chosen network or not.

According to a global survey conducted in February 2025, over 40 percent of Facebook users paid attention to news from mainstram news outlets and mainstream journalists on the social network. Additionally, 25 percent reported paying attention to personalities and creators.

How much time do people spend on social media?

              As of 2024, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 143 minutes per day, down from 151 minutes in the previous year. Currently, the country with the most time spent on social media per day is Brazil, with online users spending an average of three hours and 49 minutes on social media each day. In comparison, the daily time spent with social media in
              the U.S. was just two hours and 16 minutes. Global social media usageCurrently, the global social network penetration rate is 62.3 percent. Northern Europe had an 81.7 percent social media penetration rate, topping the ranking of global social media usage by region. Eastern and Middle Africa closed the ranking with 10.1 and 9.6 percent usage reach, respectively.
              People access social media for a variety of reasons. Users like to find funny or entertaining content and enjoy sharing photos and videos with friends, but mainly use social media to stay in touch with current events friends. Global impact of social mediaSocial media has a wide-reaching and significant impact on not only online activities but also offline behavior and life in general.
              During a global online user survey in February 2019, a significant share of respondents stated that social media had increased their access to information, ease of communication, and freedom of expression. On the flip side, respondents also felt that social media had worsened their personal privacy, increased a polarization in politics and heightened everyday distractions.

A 2025 survey revealed that audiences using social networks for news engage with sources differently depending on the network; for example 48 percent of X (formerly Twitter) users paid the most attention to mainstream news outlets and journalists, while only 36 percent of TikTok users and 45 percent of Snapchat users did the same. These latter platforms saw higher attention directed toward creators and personalities, with 49 percent of TikTok users and 56 percent of Snapchat users engaging more with influencers and celebrities.

Social media is one of the go-to news sources in the United States – over one third of U.S. adults responding to a 2022 survey got their news from social media platforms every day, and a further 22 percent did so a few times or at least once per week. After the surge in social media news consumption in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, daily engagement fell in 2021, but the increase the following year suggests that daily news access on social networks could continue to grow in years to come.

The most popular social sites for news

An annual report surveying U.S. adults from 2019 to 2022 revealed that Facebook was the most popular social network used for news, followed by YouTube. Important to note here though is that TikTok was not included in the survey question for those years, a platform increasingly popular with younger generations. Whilst the share of adults regularly using TikTok for news aged 50 years or above was just five percent, among those aged between 18 and 29 years the figure was over five times higher.

Meanwhile, Twitter is journalists’ preferred social media site, with the share who use Twitter for their job at almost 70 percent. Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter however, some journalists raised concerns about the future of free speech on the platform.

Gen Z and social media news consumption

A 2022 survey found that half of all Gen Z respondents used social media for news every day. Gen Z is driving growth in social media news usage, a trend which will continue if the younger consumers belonging to this generation increase their engagement with news as they age.

According to a global survey conducted in 2025, nearly half of X (formerly Twitter) users paid attention to news from mainstream news outlets and journalists, while an equal share engaged with content from creators and personalities, such as celebrities and influencers. This indicates a balanced split in attention between traditional media and individual voices on the platform.

During a January 2024 global survey among marketers, nearly 60 percent reported plans to increase their organic use of YouTube for marketing purposes in the following 12 months. LinkedIn and Instagram followed, respectively mentioned by 57 and 56 percent of the respondents intending to use them more. According to the same survey, Facebook was the most important social media platform for marketers worldwide.

How many people use social media?

              Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2024, over five billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to over six billion in 2028.

              Who uses social media?
              Social networking is one of the most popular digital activities worldwide and it is no surprise that social networking penetration across all regions is constantly increasing. As of January 2023, the global social media usage rate stood at 59 percent. This figure is anticipated to grow as lesser developed digital markets catch up with other regions
              when it comes to infrastructure development and the availability of cheap mobile devices. In fact, most of social media’s global growth is driven by the increasing usage of mobile devices. Mobile-first market Eastern Asia topped the global ranking of mobile social networking penetration, followed by established digital powerhouses such as the Americas and Northern Europe.

              How much time do people spend on social media?
              Social media is an integral part of daily internet usage. On average, internet users spend 151 minutes per day on social media and messaging apps, an increase of 40 minutes since 2015. On average, internet users in Latin America had the highest average time spent per day on social media.

              What are the most popular social media platforms?
              Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently boasts approximately 2.9 billion monthly active users, making it the most popular social network worldwide. In June 2023, the top social media apps in the Apple App Store included mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram Messenger, as well as the ever-popular app version of Facebook.

Since the coronavirus outbreak began, consumers around the world have changed their habits accordingly in line with measures imposed in a bid to control the spread of the disease, and this has had a direct impact on media consumption on a global level. Data varies country by country, but figures on increased media consumption among four different generations also reveals certain patterns. For example, Gen Z are ** percent more likely than Boomers to have spent more time listening to music streaming services, whilst Gen X are the most likely to have been listening to the radio more as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tradtional formats were less prefereable to social networks or messaging apps, with newspaper and magazine readership increasing by just * to * percent across all generations.For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

A global survey conducted in July 2020 found that Gen Z consumers were far more likely to watch more videos due to the coronavirus outbreak, with ** percent reporting an increase in consumption of videos for example on YouTube, compared to ** percent of Millennials and ** percent of Gen X consumers. There was also an increase in the share of Gen Z respondents listening to more streaming services, spending longer on messaging services and social media, and watching more news coverage. Gen Z were the most likely to have increased their usage of streaming services, with ** percent of respondents reporting watching more shows and films during the COVID outbreak.For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

A global study revealed that the average share of people who prefer to listen to news was just 14 percent, with the vast majority preferring to consume news via reading. However, Mexican and Indian news audiences were substantially more likely to favor audio news than consumers from other selected countries. Meanwhile, Norwegian consumers were the most engaged with written news, and audiences in the Philippines were most likely to say they prefer watching news.

In 2024, eight percent of respondents stated they had a great deal of trust in the mass media when it came to reporting the news fully, accurately, and fairly, up by one percentage point from the previous year. Meanwhile, 36 percent of respondents had no trust at all in the mass media, a three-percentage-point improvement on last year.

In 2024, Google ranked as the most valuable media and entertainment brand worldwide, with a brand value of 683 billion U.S. dollars. Facebook ranked second, valued at around 167 billion dollars. Part of the Tencent Group, WeChat and v.qq.com (Tencent Video) had a brand value of 56 billion and 17.5 billion dollars, respectively.

A survey on online news consumption behavior conducted in India in 2023 revealed that YouTube was the leading platform for online news consumption, as indicated by ** percent of the respondents. Social media was the next most used platform among Indian online news consumers, followed by chat apps. It was worth noting that news publishers had yet to realize their market potential, with only ** percent of respondents using the apps and websites of these outlets to access the news.

A global survey conducted in July 2020 found that consumers from the Philippines were far more likely to watch more videos due to the coronavirus outbreak, with ** percent reporting an increase in consumption of videos for example on YouTube, compared to ** percent of Indian consumers and ** percent of respondents from Brazil. Internationally there was a significant increase in the news coverage watched; the country with the largest increase was China with ** percent indicating an increase in consumption of news, compared to only ** percent of Americans, with the U.S. showing the smallest increase in watching the news.For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

According to a survey conducted in 2024, social media was the most popular online and digital medium in Sweden - ** percent of respondents stated to use it daily. Far behind came TV streaming services, with a share of ** percent. Least consumed digital media were audio books, digital magazines, as well as e-books. How has the media use behavior in Sweden been changed in the past years? The increasing popularity of web TV services and the consequent downward trend of television viewing reflect the ongoing change in media usage behavior. While the share of Swedish individuals watching television on a daily basis decreased between 2010 and 2019 with a hike caused by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns soon after that, viewing web TV services has been continuously growing ever since 2015, standing at ** percent in 2023. How much time do Swedes spend on media? In 2022, people in Sweden spent on average *** minutes per day with media. In recent years, this figure has been oscillating around that level. Additionally, women spent more time with some media than men in Sweden. To give an example, while the time spent with social media among women was ** minutes per day, men spent only ** minutes with social networks in 2023. Similarly, a gap was observed for TV, magazines, and books.

Data from a survey held in the United States in late 2023 found that Latino adults generally preferred either social media or television for getting news, whereas only a very small share got news via radio or print outlets. News websites and apps were the preference for ** percent of respondents, with search being similarly popular.

According to reports held in 2015 and 2024, the share of respondents in the United Kingdom who said they were very or extremely interested in news dropped from 70 percent to 39 percent in that time period. News avoidance and news fatigue are growing problems, not only in the UK but among consumers in countries across the globe.