The latest data from the General Media Study (EGM) conducted by the Association for Media Research (AIMC), presented this past April 18, allow us to see how the penetration of different media in Spain has evolved over the last two decades.
Television continues to be the most used medium by Spaniards. It currently has a penetration of 85.3% among the population over 14 years of age. This is five points less than 15 years ago (in 2003 its penetration was 90.7%).
The medium that has gained the most ground by far during this period is internet, which continues to increase its penetration year after year. It currently stands at 76% of people who connect every day.
Printed newspapers maintain their downward trend. If in 2008 42.1% of Spaniards read a newspaper, today that percentage has been reduced to 24.2%. In the case of press supplements, the drop is even more pronounced: it has gone from 32.4% penetration in 1997 to 8.3% in 2018.
Magazines also lose readers in Spain. They have fallen just over 20 percentage points in just one decade. In 2008, the penetration of magazines was 52.3%; today it is 31.9%.
The story of radio is different: it gained ground until 2012, when it reached 61.9% penetration, and since then it has been giving up some ground, but little, standing at 59% this year.
The following graphs show in detail the penetration of each medium in 2018 and its evolution over the last two decades:
The EGM applies the following scales for each medium:
- Newspapers: readers / day
- Supplements: readers / week
- Magazines: readers / publication period
- Radio: listeners / day
- Television: viewers / day
- Outdoor: supports seen / week
- Cinema: viewers / week
- Internet: users / day