Filipinos read news in social media: 78.8%

Aug 2, 2021, PUBLiCUS Asia Inc has just released its second quarter poll, conducted from 13-19 July 2021. It is a nationwide purposive sampling survey comprised of 1,500 respondents drawn from a research panel of approximately 100,000 Filipino registered voters maintained by a Singapore-based firm.

Social media has been a dominant force in changing the Filipino culture and source of information for at least 10 years now. Social media has driven most conversations and interactions that led brands and even social issues into the mainstream with a single click of a button. And in those years, and most recently, news consumption is taken from social media at a 78.8% rating – as the most popular media-related activity among respondents. While reading news on print continues its decline.

Facebook and YouTube remain the most widely and intensely used media platforms with near-universal usage rates and staggering average daily usage rates. Significantly, most respondents identify spending over 5 hours on social media platforms and OTT (over-the-top) daily – with Facebook, YouTube and Netlfix leading the way followed by Cable TV and Instagram.

The survey is an independent, non-commissioned, national poll covering eight (8) modules measured: state of the economy and economic prospects, COVID-19 vaccine tracker, national issues, scorecard for national leaders and institutions emotional quotient of incumbent and prospective leaders, media consumption habits and responses to media campaigns, predisposition, and the Duterte administration scorecard.