NewsDagmar 18.06.2024

STUDY: TikTok is more popular than a paper newspaper and smartwatches have become mainstream – this is how the use of media and devices in Finland has changed in ten years

Digital marketing Culture

Marketing agency Dagmar’s Digital Media research shows how much people’s everyday lives have changed with the use of media and devices.

Few people watch TV without a phone in their hand, one in four has a smartwatch on their wrist, and YouTube has grown to the size of a linear TV. These changes have taken place over the past ten years, when the marketing agency Dagmar has carried out Digital Media research.

“In 2013, we found that research data on the use of digital media by Finns was outdated faster than it was available. We launched our own monthly survey on media and device usage. The data collection shows how drastic the changes have taken place in just ten years,” says Ville Rekula, Research Director at Dagmar.

Smartwatches are a thing for all ages

Smartphones strongly characterize the use of Finnish devices and media. While in 2013 59 per cent of Finns owned a touchscreen smartphone, today almost everyone (94%) has a smartphone.

Smartwatches have also become mainstream. As recently as 2016, only three per cent, or about 110,000 citizens, said they used a smartwatch. Now, one in four (26%), or well over a million people, use a smartwatch with many applications and functionalities.

“The popularity of the smartwatch just seems to continue. It’s no wonder – after all, the watch fulfills many different functions and can be modified to suit your own use. A smartwatch is a thing for all age groups, and the baby boomers use it, for example, to measure blood pressure. The watch is also easy to carry on your wrist,” Rekula ponders the popularity.

TikTok is also popular among middle-aged people

Instagram is popular among Finns: more than half (56%) of Finns follow the app at least weekly. The photo app is very popular among young people, as as many as three out of four (74%) of 16–34-year-olds follow Instagram.

TikTok is also a favourite among young people: more than half (51%) of 16–34-year-olds follow TikTok at least weekly. Middle-aged people are also enthusiastic about TikTok: one in five (22%) people aged 35–54 follow the app. Almost a third (29%) of the entire population spends time with the canal. Snapchat is an app for young people: more than half (56%) of 16–34-year-olds use it, compared to only one in ten (11%) of 35–54-year-olds.

“The number of social media channels has increased tremendously in ten years. Some of them have withered over the years, and even those that have stagnated have been removed from our research. Who remembers Kiki anymore? The trend is that young people are always looking for new channels. When older generations have come to Facebook and Instagram, young people have moved from there to TikTok or BeReal, for example.“

YouTube and Yle Areena are popular – with a mobile phone in hand, of course

As social media channels have been booming, linear TV viewing has decreased year by year. It has been replaced by YouTube, which is growing rapidly, and its use has increased in all age groups: more than two thirds (69%) say they have watched YouTube in the past month. Many (38%) also go to YouTube without the intention of watching any specific content. In 2015, a quarter (26%) of Finns did so.

Yle Areena is the favourite of all age groups: about two out of three (64%) follow it monthly. The use of Yle Areena has increased in all age groups over the past eight years.

The use of all streaming services is only increasing among different age groups as the services expand their offering. And whereas in the past, people watched a certain program or news with intense concentration, nowadays a smartphone is part of the viewing experience. Two out of three (68%) use their phones at the same time when watching TV, compared to only one in four (25%) ten years ago.

“Social media is an important source of entertainment: today, one in three Finns (31%) opens social media channels when they want entertainment. In 2015, only one in five (20%) did so. The growth has been strong, especially among middle-aged people,” Rekula says.

Young people shuttle, non-digital natives have tighter control

Paper newspapers are becoming more and more commonplace these days. Ten years ago, slightly less than half (44%) of Finns followed paid newspapers in paper at least a few times a week, but only one in five (20%) used print.

Despite the decline in print, the content of newspapers is even more interesting than before: ten years ago, one in five (21%) Finns followed newspapers on a mobile app at least a few times a week, but now one in three (34%) follows the news.
Listening is on the rise in all age groups. Slightly more than one in five (22%) listen to podcasts several times a week. Three years ago, slightly more than one in ten (13%) listened to podcasts.

“Young people are more open to consuming different media and forms as they get older. Those who remember the time before digital have stronger control: they consume the same traditional media that they have tried and tested to be good. Young people, on the other hand, shuttle to different channels for content and news through TikTok, for example. They don’t even think about consuming content from a particular brand. Of course, the ten-year trend of the survey shows that everyone is heading in this direction, but there are many differences in the pace of change between different age groups“, says Rekula.

Marketing agency Dagmar has been conducting Digital Media Research since 2013. The interviews have been conducted as monthly online interviews. The target group of the study has been Finns aged 16–69, and 500 people have been interviewed every month, i.e. 6,000 per year. The statistical margin of error for the results is approximately +-1–2 percentage points.