Compiled with the help of Francisco Javier Fernández Medina and Enrique Núñez-Mussa, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

This year’s data should be seen in the context of widespread civil protests related to the rising cost of living, privatisation, and inequality. Together with the COVID-19 pandemic, these seismic events have increased audiences for news at the same time as depressing business prospects for many publishers.

Note: Data are from more urban areas, rather than a fully nationally representative sample. These will tend to represent richer and more connected users.

Top Brands

Changing Media

Television remains the most important traditional news source in Chile, beating radio and newspapers. But for the first-time social media (73%) have overtaken TV (66%) as a source of news. Instagram (+8) is increasingly used by publishers as a way of drawing attention to content.

Trust

Trust has fallen substantially in the last year (-15) following protests about falling living standards and inequality. In a country with the most concentrated media ownership in Latin America, journalists are seen as part of an unrepresentative political class and there is resentment on the streets about news coverage on TV and in the press.