The internet surpassed television and became the primary source of information for Ukrainians, a recent survey shows.
Today 51% of Ukrainians prefer to get information from various sources on the internet, while only 44% choose television, according to a survey by marketing analyst Research & Branding Group.
Only 2% prefer radio or print, according to 1,800 respondents.
The internet has gradually gained popularity as a news source over the years. Just four years ago, in 2017, only 38% of Ukrainians were getting information from the web, while 58% preferred television.
People also use social media to get their information. Facebook is the most popular with Ukrainians, 59% of whom use it. YouTube and Instagram (which belongs to Facebook) are used by 43% and 30% respectively.
Only 6% of Ukrainians use Twitter and 2% use LinkedIn.
Once hugely popular, Russian social networks Odnoklassniki and VKontakte lost ground in Ukraine — respectively, only 3% and 5% of Ukrainians use them. In May 2017, Ukraine blocked access to both websites and imposed a range of sanctions on Russian firms.
Before the ban, around 24 million Ukrainians — more than half of the population — used the Russian websites. Three of them, Vkontakte, Yandex and Mail.ru, were among the five most popular websites in Ukraine.
Read more: Ukraine does without internet services from Russia
Messaging apps have also become a source of information for locals, as some of them offer news feeds across different channels, including ones run by media outlets. Around 75% of Ukrainians use messengers to get information through their channels.
According to the survey, 37% of respondents admit that channels in messengers influence his or her views.
Almost half of Ukrainians or 46% recognize that social networks and messengers influence sociopolitics in Ukraine and another 13% consider that influence decisive. In contrast, 18% of Ukrainians do not believe in the social networks’ influence and another 23% are undecided.
The most popular messenger in Ukraine is Viber, which 57% of Ukrainians use. Facebook Messenger is used by 37% and Telegram is used by 20% of Ukrainians. The least popular messengers are WhatsApp, used by 9% and Skype, used by 8% of Ukrainians.
Although television is falling behind, it remains the second most popular source of information. All the top channels belong to local oligarchs.
According to Detector Media, a media watchdog, in January channel Ukraina was the most watched in Ukraine. It belongs to oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, the richest person in Ukraine. Oligarch Victor Pinchuk’s ICTV was the close runner-up.
The third most popular channel was 1+1. owned by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. STB and Novy, two other channels belonging to Pinchuk, ranked fourth and fifth.
