The survey was commissioned by OPORA and conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology from May, 3 to 26, 2022. Computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) surveyed 2,009 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine (except AR Crimea) using random sampling of mobile phone numbers (with random generation of phone numbers and subsequent statistical weighting). The survey was conducted among adult population (aged 18 years and older) of Ukrainian citizens who at the time of the survey lived in Ukraine (within the boundaries controlled by the Ukrainian government before February 24, 2022). The sample did not include residents of territories temporarily outside the control of the Ukrainian government before February 24, 2022 (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, some districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions), as well as citizens who left abroad after February, 24, 2022. The field phase lasted from May, 19 to 24, 2022.
The statistical error of the sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.1) does not exceed: 2.4% for indicators close to 50%, 2.1% – for indicators close to 25%, 1.5% – for indicators close to 10%.
One of the most powerful Internet trends of recent years has been the use of social networks, not only for communication and entertainment, but also for receiving news and information updates. This trend is noticeable both in Western countries (for example, in the United States it is about 53% of citizens) and in Ukraine, where the share of users consuming news on social media increased from 45% to 63%. While researchers and community activists have consistently warned that it is not always safe to view news on social media due to misinformation or manipulative messages, the convenience and speed of such consumption outweighs all of these risks.
After the beginning of a full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine by the russian federation, Ukrainian society has been monitoring the updates from the front, official statements of the authorities, and warnings of air alarm alerts. This continuous consumption of information over the past three months has become a new habit for many.
The Ukrainian authorities are trying to meet the sudden demand for information as much as possible, and to combat russian disinformation messages through several important initiatives. In particular, this is the objective of the "United News" telethon, which is broadcast by most Ukrainian TV channels and radio stations. Channels of official authorities in Telegram, YouTube and other websites, as well as calls for media companies to block russian propaganda, also help to disseminate truthful information.
At the same time, the delivery of truthful information may not be so effective if you do not know where exactly the largest share of the Ukrainian audience consumes the news, as since the beginning of the full-scale russian aggression, the media consumption patterns of Ukrainians may have changed significantly. In this report, we will present the results of a study of media consumption of Ukrainians during a full-scale war, conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, as commissioned by the Civil Network OPORA.
Where will Ukrainians learn the information from?
The most popular source of information in the last two months was social networks — 76.6% of Ukrainians use them to get news updates. The second most popular source was television, with 66.7% of votes, the third place went to the Internet (not including social networks) — 61.2% of users. Currently, about 28.4% of Ukrainian citizens listen to the radio, and only 15.7% of respondents read the printed media.
Social media turned out to be most common sources of information for both genders — 77.9% of men and 75.5% of women. The second most common source of information for women is television (70.4%), and for men it is the Internet, not accounting for social networks (63.5%). Women and men are the least likely to consume news from the printed media.
The most notable differences are in the consumption of news by age. Thus, more than 92% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 39 consume news on social media, the same as over 64% of consumers between the ages of 40 and 69. At the same time, older people prefer television (more than 78% of users over 60 years old) and radio (more than 36% of users over 60 years old). More than 60% of users from 30 to 59 years old use the Internet without taking into account social media as a source of news, and more than 20% of users above 60 years old use the printed media.
There are also minor differences in the consumption of news by users from villages and cities. In particular, residents of rural areas are more likely to watch television (71.3% versus 64.4% in cities) and read printed media (21.5% versus 12.7%). On the other hand, residents of cities are more likely to consume news via the Internet (64% versus 55.6% in villages), social media (79.2% versus 71.4%), and radio (28.5% versus 28.2%).
There are also some differences in news consumption in different macro regions of Ukraine. The West has the largest share of users who watch television (73.5%), read print media (23.2%), and listen to the radio (34.6%). Conversely, most of those who read online media live in the east of Ukraine (63.2%). Social media as a source of news are most actively used in the southern part of Ukraine (77.8% of respondents).
Trust for information sources
The next question we asked the respondents is about the information sources they trust as regards the credibility of the news. The findings showed that Ukrainians have the greatest confidence in television (60.5%), social networks (almost 54% of respondents), and the Internet (in addition to social media) (almost 49%). A little less trust has been shown by Ukrainians for radio (34%) and printed media (23%). About 5% of respondents do not trust any of the information sources.
In terms of male and female audiences, television gained the most trust (55.2% and 64.8%, respectively). Although Ukrainians consume most of the news from social media, users have slightly less trust for them than for television: only 53.7% of men and 54.1% of women deem these posts credible. The least trust has been expressed by both men and women for the printed media (21.6% and 24.2%, respectively) and for the radio (36.4% and 32.5%, respectively). No trust for any of the information sources: 5.3% of men and 5.2% of women.
The age structure of trust for different information sources is also quite revealing. In particular, we recorded the highest trust indicator for the media among Ukrainians over 70 years of age — 80% of them trust television the most. Trust for television decreases with age: among consumers aged 50 to 69, it ranges from 60-70%, among all other age categories, only about 50% of respondents trust the TV. Conversely, the greatest trust among young people and middle-age people has been referred to social media (from 57% in users aged 50 to 59 to 67% among 18-29 year-olds) and Internet resources (from 50% of consumers aged 50 to 59 to 56.5% among consumers aged 18-29). Young people have the least confidence in print media and radio (25% and 35% for respondents aged 18 to 39). Elderly people, next to television, also trust the radio and some more trust for Internet sources (32% and 38.6% of respondents aged 60 and over, respectively).
As for the trust for media resources, there are also noticeable differences between news consumers from rural and urban areas. In particular, city residents trust social media more (57.7% vs. 46.5% of villagers) and Internet resources (51.4% vs. 43.8%). Instead, rural residents have more confidence in television (64.5% vs. 58.4% among urban residents), print media (29% vs. 19.9%), and radio (38.7% vs. 31.9%). Among rural residents, there is also a slightly higher level of distrust for mass media in general — 5.5% vs. 5% among urban citizens.
Residents of West (66%) and Center (64%) of Ukraine have the greatest confidence in television. In the East and the South, these figures are almost 10% lower: in the southern regions, 53.4% of citizens trust television, in the East — 52.2%. Similarly, there is a noticeable difference in the trust for the printed media (28.6% in the West of Ukraine and only 17.4% in southern regions) and radio (44.9% in western regions and 23% in eastern areas). Trust for Internet resources differs slightly (46% in the southern regions and 51.2% in the eastern regions), as well as for social media (ab. 50% for all regions, except for central part of Ukraine, where the trust levels reached 58.4%). It is also quite interesting to see that distrust for any media is the lowest (2.8%) among the residents of the central regions of Ukraine, but the highest in the South (8.9%).
What social media do Ukrainians use?
Finally, the part of respondents who answered that they received news updates through social media were also asked to specify the kinds of social media they use for news.
Most respondents used Telegram (65.7%), YouTube (61.2%) and Facebook (57.8%) to receive news in the last two months. 48% of respondents used Viber, 29.1% — Instagram, 19.5% — TikTok, 8.9% — Twitter. About 2% of respondents used other social media (WhatsApp, Signal, etc.) to receive news updates.
The differences between men and women in the consumption of news through different social media are also noticeable. Thus, men most often receive news via YouTube (67.2%), Telegram (63%), and Facebook (54.8%), and most rarely via TikTok (19.5%) and Twitter (11.8%). Among women, the most used sources of news were the same Telegram (68%), Facebook (62.1%) and YouTube (56%), but with slightly different proportions. The least frequent information sources that women use are TikTok (19.5%) and Twitter (6.5%). Viber and Instagram are used for news updates by 44.5% and 24.6% of men, and by 51.1% and 32.9% of women, respectively.
Instead, the age distribution of audiences across different social networks proved unexpected. Thus, young people from 18 to 39 years of age consume news mainly through Telegram (from 72.4% among respondents aged 30-39, to 86.7% among respondents aged 18-29) and YouTube (from 57.6% among respondents aged 30-39, to 58.5% among respondents aged 18-29). Elderly respondents (over 60 years of age) prefer YouTube (over 61.4% of respondents) and Facebook (from 43.3% among respondents over 70 years of age to 59.3% among respondents 60-69 years of age). Viber as a source of news is mainly used by middle-aged users: the audience of this social network ranges from 52.1%, among the 40-49 years old cohort, to 59.6%, among respondents aged 60-69 years old. Facebook is also quite popular among this age category (from 62.2%, among the cohort of 40-49 years old, to 59.3%, among the respondents aged 60-69). Twitter as a source of news is more popular among young people: the maximum it received from categories aged 18-39 is 10.7% -10.9%. Instead, TikTok found its niche not only among 18-29-year-olds: 24.2% of respondents aged 18-29 years use it as a source of news, as well as 23.4% of respondents aged 60-69.
Differences in the use of different social networks between rural and urban residents are not too significant, but still noticeable. In villages, a larger share of the audience receives news via Facebook (62% versus 55.9% in the city) and TikTok (24.3% versus 17.3%). On the other hand, Telegram (69.6% vs. 57.1% in rural areas), YouTube (66% vs. 50.7%), and Viber (50.9% vs. 41.8%) were more popular in cities. Through Instagram and Twitter, the news is received by roughly the same shares of respondents (about 30% and 9%, respectively).
Regional differences also proved interesting. In particular, in the East, Ukrainians are much more likely to use Telegram as a source of news (71% of respondents compared to 61.1% in the western regions), Viber (54.3% vs. 43% in the West), YouTube (62.9% vs. 59.3% in western parts of Ukraine), and TikTok (23.4% vs. 18.4% in central regions of Ukraine). Instead, Facebook was the most popular for news consumption in the western regions (63% vs. 50.6% in the south of Ukraine). The largest share of Instagram users who use it as a source of news has been found in the southern regions of Ukraine (31.5%), and Twitter was more popular in the central regions (10.6%).
The survey was made possible by support of American people administered through the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Any opinions and statements expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the positions of USAID and US Government.