The DatosUN national survey on news consumption covers a wide range of topics to provide a comprehensive view of news consumption in the country. It examines everything from the main sources of information—whether traditional media such as television, radio, and print newspapers, or digital platforms and social networks—to the frequency and methods of consumption, considering how often users access these platforms and content.
The study seeks to understand in depth how Venezuelans access information, as well as which platforms and formats they prefer. Globally, studies such as the Digital News Report, published annually by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the University of Oxford, reveal that more than 65% of people access news through mobile devices and that social media functions as an essential channel for information distribution, although trust in these platforms tends to be low. Meanwhile, the Pew Research Center indicates that nearly 50% of adults in the United States trust traditional media, highlighting the importance of understanding perceptions and levels of credibility for each type of media.
Furthermore, the study explores preferences regarding specific formats, such as the preferred length and type of videos on YouTube, and how people prefer to receive audiovisual information on social media. It assesses the level of trust placed in various types of social media accounts, including news outlets, journalists, and influencers. The study also delves into the emerging use of technologies like AI chatbots for information gathering, analyzing frequency of use, types of queries made, and trust in the information provided.
This comprehensive approach allows us to capture not only the most widely used platforms and formats, but also perceptions of content quality and credibility, as well as the attitudes that shape the contemporary news experience. Thus, we present an essential tool for media outlets and content creators to adapt their strategies to the real needs and expectations of the Venezuelan public.
This analysis provides a snapshot that facilitates decision-making in the media and the design of more effective and representative news products that reflect current audience interests and behaviors. It also serves as input for new and ongoing communication research and even for the planning and design of communication policies and strategies.
The first cut of the study It was conducted between November and December with a sample of 300 surveys distributed throughout the country. The second installment It added a similar number of participants, up to April 2026, for a sample of 605 people. This third review completed 902 responses registered up to the end of August 2026. The results follow.
Executive Summary
This report summarizes the main findings of the survey on news consumption habits in Venezuela. Below is a summary of the most relevant results:
– Social networks and messaging applications are, by a wide margin, the dominant ecosystem for getting information: 75,7% use them as their main source, and in the ranking of channels by frequency of daily use they are the only two platforms that exceed 65% consumption "several times a day".
– Television retains an important role, but it is increasingly consumed through digital channels: although traditional cable is still the most used individual channel (26,4%), almost half of those who watch TV now do so through YouTube, streaming on networks or platforms like Netflix.
– YouTube is a space of intense and varied consumption: 58,3% of users log in daily, and music and news are, by far, the preferred content.
– Telegram dominates as a social network for getting information (62,8%), and within social networks, media accounts have much more weight than those of individual journalists as a source of information.
Artificial intelligence already has a place in news consumption, albeit a secondary one: 23,1% use it with some frequency, but only 1 in 10 trust its information, and it lags far behind messaging apps and websites as a perceived reliable source. The 30-39 age group consistently stands out as the most likely to adopt and trust it.
Politics and international affairs overwhelmingly dominate the topics of greatest interest, and news consumption is concentrated in the morning and evening, with the afternoon being the time of least activity — a pattern that is reversed in the 30-39 age group, who prefer the evening.
The platform wars
When asked about their primary source of news, social media and messaging apps accounted for 75,7% of combined responses, far surpassing any other medium. This confirms that the digital ecosystem of messaging and social networks is now the dominant gateway to information in Venezuela.
When breaking down the primary source consulted when searching for information on a particular news story, messaging apps again lead the way (33,9%), although news websites (26,8%) and social media (24,2%) follow closely behind. This suggests a more even competition among these three channels when it comes to specific searches, rather than just the usual source. When analyzed by age, television stands out as the primary source of information, notably more so among 15- to 29-year-olds (21,3%) than in the other age groups, where it does not exceed 6% in any case—a pattern that contrasts with the perception that younger people use television less.
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The consolidated ranking of frequent consumption by platform—the percentage of users who report consulting each channel "several times a day"—confirms this hierarchy: messaging apps (71,7%) and social media (67,0%) are the only two platforms that exceed 65% intensive daily use, well above media websites (41,9%) and, further behind, YouTube, television, radio, influencer blogs, newsletters, and print newspapers. The breakdown by gender reveals a significant gap in intensive social media use: 74,8% of men consult them several times a day compared to 59,3% of women (a difference of almost 15,5 percentage points), and a similar, though smaller, gap is observed in radio (17,7% for men vs. 10,0% for women).
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Best combinations
Regarding their preferred format for consuming news, more than half (56,1%) say they prefer a combination of formats rather than just one. Among those who do have a defined preference, written text dominates (23,3%), followed by video (17,4%), images (2,8%), and audio (0,3%).
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Among the topics of greatest news interest (multiple-choice question, where each person chooses three), politics overwhelmingly dominates with 81,5% of mentions, followed at a distance by international news (57,7%) and economics (43,9%). The remaining topics—local news, science, current events, health, sports, culture, and entertainment—lay far behind. The breakdown by gender reveals the most pronounced gender gap in the entire survey: interest in sports is 21,4% among men compared to just 8,5% among women, a difference of almost 13 percentage points.
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Regarding the times when news is most frequently consumed, almost 9 out of 10 people do so in the morning (46,5%) or at night (40,1%), leaving the afternoon as the time of least news activity (13,4%). An interesting finding emerges when broken down by age: the 30-39 age group reverses the general pattern and prefers the evening (51,5%) over the morning (31,7%), unlike all other age groups, where the morning clearly predominates.
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TV is going digital
When specifically asked about the most common way to watch television, traditional cable remains the most popular individual option (26,4%). However, when digital channels—YouTube, social media streaming, and platforms like Netflix—are grouped together, they account for 47,5% of consumption, practically half, confirming that television content consumption is already strongly shifting to digital, even if no single channel has yet displaced traditional cable.
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Our daily YouTube
Regarding preferred video length on YouTube, medium-length videos (5 to 20 minutes) lead with 40,4%, but short videos (up to 5 minutes) follow closely behind with 37,4%. Long videos (over 20 minutes) come in third place with 22,2%.
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YouTube usage frequency is high: 58,3% of users access the platform every day, and of that total, 41,9% do so several times a day.
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When measuring liking for YouTube content on a scale of 1 to 5, 42,6% expressed a high liking (levels 4 and 5 combined), compared to 24,3% who expressed a low liking (levels 1 and 2).
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Among the preferred types of content on YouTube (multiple response, out of 25 possible categories), music and video clips (53,5%) and news and current affairs (47,6%) dominate far above the rest, followed by tutorials (25,9%), movies and series (21,7%) and education and documentaries (20,8%).
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The media lives on social networks
Telegram dominates as the most consulted social network for information, with 62,8% of mentions, far ahead of Instagram (17,1%) and the rest of the platforms.
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Three out of four people (75,7%) say they follow many media accounts on social networks. The breakdown by gender shows a notable difference: 81,6% of men do so compared to 70,0% of women, a gap of almost 11,6 percentage points.
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The rate of following individual journalists' accounts is considerably lower: only 36,1% say they follow many, while 54,0% say they do not. The gender gap is even wider than in the case of media outlets: 60,1% of men do not follow many journalists' accounts compared to 48,1% of women, a difference of 12 percentage points.
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When asked specifically who they get their news from on social media, media accounts far outnumber those of individual journalists: 74,5% versus 12,0%. The remaining options—individual users, institutions, programs, and influencers—have a marginal presence.
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AI enters the scene
The use of artificial intelligence to stay informed about the news is still a minority practice, but not marginal: 23,1% of people use it with some frequency (combining those who answer "sometimes" and "always"), compared to 76,9% who do not use it. When broken down by age, the 30-39 age group stands out with a "always" usage rate that almost doubles the national average (10,1% versus 5,3%), a pattern that is consistently repeated in the other questions about AI.
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Trust in the information provided by AI chat rooms about news is low: only 1 in 10 (10,8%) trusts it to some extent—combining those who trust it "mostly, with some doubts" and those who trust it "completely"—while the majority do not trust it or prefer to always verify information with other sources. The 30-39 age group stands out again, with almost double the combined trust of the national average (20,7% vs. 10,8%), while younger people (15-29 years old) show a greater tendency to verify information on other sites rather than relying directly on AI.
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Regarding frequency of use, 12,4% frequently use AI chats (daily or several times a week) to stay informed. The age pattern again confirms the 30-39 age group as the most frequent adopter: their daily use (13,0%) more than triples the national average (5,7%), solidifying this cohort as the most likely to integrate AI into their regular news consumption.
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Despite this growing use, when asked which platform offers the most reliable news, artificial intelligence lags far behind (just 1,0%), well behind messaging apps (36,8%) and news websites (28,0%), which lead in perceived trustworthiness. A notable finding by age group is that younger people (15 to 29 years old) trust television as a reliable platform proportionally much more (22,3%) than the national average (12,6%), almost double.
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The media on the networks
The results of this survey paint a picture of an information ecosystem where messaging apps and social media—led by Telegram—are the undisputed center of news consumption, both as the primary source and in terms of daily usage. Within this ecosystem, media outlet accounts continue to carry far more weight than those of individual journalists, suggesting that the institutional brand of the media outlet retains its relevance even on platforms dominated by personal and informal content.
Television, although displaced as the primary source, has not disappeared: it has transformed, and almost half of its consumption now occurs digitally. A similar pattern of coexistence between traditional and digital media is observed in viewing times, concentrated in the morning and evening, with the notable exception of the 30-39 age group, which prefers evening viewing to morning viewing.
Artificial intelligence emerges as the most dynamic, yet still secondary, player in the landscape: its use and level of trust are low in absolute terms, but it shows disproportionately higher adoption among 30- to 39-year-olds in virtually all related questions—a pattern worth monitoring in future surveys. Finally, the most pronounced gender gap in the entire survey appears in interest in sports and in following media outlets and journalists on social media, where men consistently show higher engagement than women.
