All Fall Down – Internet Levels Spanish Media, Except Free Sheets

Michael Hedges March 1, 2006

The internet marches on in Spain, attracting more and more daily use, according to the Estudio General de Medios (EGM) report. Television, radio, magazines, weekly newspapers and cinema have declined in daily or weekly use. And, for the first time in five years daily newspaper use does not grow. Worst hit was cinema attendance, falling to 7.1% from 11% in 2001.

The EGM is conducted continuously by the joint industry organization Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación (AIMC).

Internet usage, already strong among 14 to 34 year olds, showed marked increases among people over 45 years. The study showed the progressive increase in internet usage in the home, now exceeding three-quarters of Spanish households.

Suffering traditional media continues to watch the internet attract young people – 14 to 24 years.  Spanish daily newspapers felt this, too, along with a noticeable loss of daily use by persons 65 years and older. Daily newspapers El Mundo and As showed increases in daily use but it was the free dailies that stormed ahead. 

2.298 million Spaniards reported reading 20 Minutos, up from 1.862 million in 2004. Metro Directo increased daily use to 1.904 million from 1.605 million one year on. The new Que attracted 1.923 million users.

Radio and TV usage fell among the 14 to 24 year olds. Cadena Ser remains the top national radio network with 4.8 million weekly listeners (38.4% market share), down from 5.2 million in 2004. Onda Cero fell behind Radio COPE into 3rd position with 1.7 million listeners, down from 1.9 million. Radio COPE increased to 2.1 million listeners from 1.8 in 2004. Radio Nacional España (RNE) Radio 1 – listed for the first time since 2003 after resolving a dispute with AIMC – reached 1.35 million listeners (10.1% market share). Weekly time spent listening to radio dropped to 110 minutes from 115 minutes in 2004. TV watching dropped to 222 minutes per day from 239 minutes in 2004, Antenna 3 taking the biggest hit.

The EGM report on Spanish media usage covers the period February through November 2005 and surveys persons 14 years and older. The recall-based survey has come under recent fire from Onda Cera president Javier González Ferrari.

“To continue making the sample based on memory, with the technological advances that there are at the moment, it seems to me an antique,” said González Ferrari, former General Director of Spanish public broadcasting, to a February meeting of Spanish radio broadcasters, sounding very much like former UK TalkSport radio chairman Kelvin MacKenzie.