By Nyang’au Araka
Weekly consumption of media content now shows platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube collectively overtaking television in Kenya.
This is according to the Media Council of Kenya’s State of Media 2025 survey, which placed social media at 27% compared to TV’s 25%, marking a definitive crossover: digital growth is no longer complementing broadcast, it is cannibalizing it.
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Television, once the undisputed national medium, is losing daily grip—viewership fell six points to 57%, with Citizen TV commanding a staggering 56% share in a winner-takes-most market.
Radio remains resilient, with 19% weekly consumption and loyal audiences tuning in for one to three hours daily, led by stations such as Radio Citizen and Classic 105.
Print, however, is in terminal decline: weekly readership has collapsed from 29% in 2022 to just 13% in 2025, with most readers now preferring digital formats.
The survey was conducted among 3,774 respondents across all 47 counties, and reveals not just consumption patterns but also credibility battles and technological disruptions shaping Kenya’s media ecosystem.
Online news consumption is still an emerging habit with more than half of Kenyans not visiting a news website on a typical day, suggesting that while digital platforms dominate, structured online journalism has yet to fully embed itself in daily routines.
Instead, social media has become the “new national town square,” with 74% of Kenyans using digital platforms regularly.
The battle is no longer about connectivity but about platform choice and influence.
In 2024, nearly three-quarters of Kenyans felt government coverage was unfair.
By 2025, that figure dropped to 46%, a 27-point swing that signals improved trust in institutional media.
Overall trust levels also rose, with 79% expressing “some” or “a lot” of trust compared to 74.5% the previous year.
Yet concerns remain: misinformation and inadequate coverage of key issues top the list, each cited by 28% of respondents, followed closely by bias in reporting at 17%.
This underscores the delicate balance between growing trust and persistent skepticism.
Artificial intelligence adds a new layer of complexity.
While 59% of Kenyans are aware of AI use in media, nearly two-thirds cannot identify AI-generated content.
This awareness-detection gap poses risks to information integrity, especially as 61% report using AI-powered platforms and 48% say AI has enhanced their media experience.
The survey warns that without urgent digital literacy interventions, the inability to detect synthetic content could exacerbate misinformation—already the public’s top concern.
Comparisons across platforms highlight a fragmented ecosystem.
Television still commands mass audiences but is losing daily relevance.
Radio maintains habitual loyalty but faces generational shifts.
Print is shrinking into irrelevance while online news is growing but not yet routine.
Social media, meanwhile, has cemented itself as the default source of news, influence, and debate.
