Majority of Kenyans prefer Whatsapp and Facebook for accessing news, a report by Reuters indicates, as news consumption continues to shift to social from traditional media.
The global Digital News Consumption report, commissioned by Reuters, covered various African countries including Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.
YouGov, a data analytics firm, conducted research with an online questionnaire issued to the selected sample at the end of January/beginning of February 2024.
In Kenya, which has an 85 per cent network penetration, 2043 individuals aged between 18 and 50 years were sampled.
“YouTube and TikTok showed an increase in their use for news. YouTube grew by 8 per cent to 59 per cent, while TikTok grew by 7 per cent to 36 per cent,” says the report.
X, however, emerged the biggest loser, with a decline of three per cent from the previous year to 37 per cent in 2024.
Television was the second most preferred source of news at 71 percent while print garnered the lowest support at 33 per cent.
This is consistent with the 2023-2024 Audience Measurement and Industry Trends report by the Communication Authority of Kenya, which showed a decline in newspaper consumption compared to radio and TV.
"The first quarter of the year 2023-24 showed 17 per cent of consumers engaged in newspaper reading and 16 per cent in the second quarter of 2023-24," the report read.
"While radio and TV consumption showed a usage of 77 per cent and 74 per cent of respondents for the first quarter, the second quarter had 78 per cent and 75 percent respectively.” it added.
Recently, traditional media houses have faced challenges such as rising misinformation and disinformation, low trust, attacks by politicians and an uncertain business environment.
The prevalent economic challenges have made it even harder for media to resist pressures from powerful entities looking to influence coverage and control narratives.
Kenya led its African counterparts with the short online news category with 94 per cent followed closely by Nigeria with 92 per cent, South Africa with 82 while Morocco was the lowest with 80 per cent
Short news videos are accessed by two-thirds (66 per cent) of the sample each week, with longer formats attracting around half at 51 per cent.
The main focus of news video consumption was online platforms at 72 per cent rather than publisher websites, which fell at 22 per cent
This has brought forth increased challenges around monetisation and connection.
Kenyans’ heavy use of different social and video platforms is raising concerns at the highest levels, with a particular focus on TikTok.
A petition to Parliament in September 2023 called for an outright ban, describing the app as ‘a serious threat promoting violence, explicit content, and offensive behaviour.
However, TikTok’s popularity with young people and businesses means that government is likely to opt for stronger regulation, rather than outlawing the app.