The most dramatic shifts in Hong Kong’s media landscape have been sharp falls in usage of print formats and broadcast radio.
According to GlobalWebIndex and Publicis Media, 57.9% of internet users ages 16 to 64 polled in Hong Kong during Q1 2020 read a print newspaper in the prior month. The reach of print newspapers had declined by nearly 10 percentage points since Q1 2019—though that metric remained quite high by global standards. Print magazines also suffered with respect to 2019, as readership fell from 58.7% to 50.1%. Youth was a significant indicator: Fewer than 29% of respondents ages 16 to 24 had read either print format.
Penetration of broadcast radio dropped by almost 5 percentage points during the same period, to less than 50%. Notably, there was no corresponding increase in digital audio takeup; the proportion of respondents listening to streamed music, podcasts, or other digital audio content rose only marginally, from 64.4% to 65.0%.