In Wales, BBC One remains the main source of news with Facebook in second place.
The social challenger to the news crown emerges in Ofcom’s breakdown for the Principality found in Ofcom’s Media Nations: Wales 2025 and Cyfryngau’r Genedl 2025: Cymru.
Overall, TV is a source for news for 60 per cent of the population of the country with social media second on 52 per cent, radio on 34 per cent and print newspapers 19 per cent.
The full table is here:
As with other parts of the UK, the figures underline the growing importance of social media as a whole. This is not new. But I’m not convinced all communications teams across Wales have invested staff time in the area.
From the league table, Welsh specific platforms that perform well are ITV Cymru Wales / ITV 1 which is in third place with 35 per cent and The Western Mail / Wales on Sunday with 13 per cent.
Elsewhere in the report
In 2024, the most watched TV show was the Gavin & Stacey: The Finale which was partly set in Barry, South Wales.
Wales is a country of video watchers with the five hours and six minutes consumed daily the highest of any of the UK countries. Within this, the 50 minutes of video on demand was also highest in the UK. Over 65s are increasing their TV viewing.
Also the highest in the UK, 88 per cent of the Principality connects their TV to the internet to allow access to Netflix, YouTube and other platforms.
YouTube is watched by 12 per cent of the county which is at the same rate as ITV channels. Unlike other countries, ‘how to’ videos are the most popular content with 41 per cent also watching YouTube Shorts. Short form video of less than 15 minutes is the most popular content with just one in 10 watching complete TV programmes uploaded to the platform.
Radio also performs strongly in Wales with 89 per cent of adults listening at some stage every week.
BBC Channels are watched by the most number of people per head of population with 72 per cent tuning in from Colwyn Bay to Cardiff and Bridgend to Bethesda.
Internet connection is available to 96 per cent of homes.
Eighty per cent of adults in Wales are ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ interested in news which focuses on the country.
I’ve blogged a summary for the UK here, Northern Ireland here and Scotland here.
You can find the full Ofcom Media Nations 2025 report here.
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Creative commons credit: Spar Shop on the A5, Betws-y-Coed by Ian S.
