Digital media spaces are the primary sources for content access and consumption in Kenya, as in the rest of the world. The current theatre for media production, dissemination, reception and consumption is digital platforms even as traditional sources, especially TV, keep up the pace.
Oblivious of the danger poised by digital platforms, media in Kenya have fully embraced the converged news production model, where in even as new start-ups by way of digital news outlets are dominating, traditional media have in the same vein invested in social media to scale up their brands
This resonates with global practice about digital fast- and media outlets are investing heavily in this as audience preferences shift to the breaking news and news in my hands culture. The new shift allows plays well in the niche audience approach where audiences are fragmented, and audience led programming is the new approach in the news business approach.
A study by The Media Council of Kenya; State of Media 2025 Survey, just released has confirmed the shift in news consumption, indicating that social media has overtaken television as Kenyans’ primary news source, with 39 per cent citing it as their main platform compared with 31 per cent for television. Radio and other outlets trailed behind.
A majority 74 per cent of Kenyans now use social or digital media platforms for content access and information consumption. WhatsApp (19.8 per cent) and Facebook (18.2 per cent) remain the most popular, followed by the rapidly growing TikTok (14.9 per cent) and YouTube (12.3 per cent).
More than half of Kenyans regularly visit news websites, highlighting how social platforms have become the dominant gateway to news.
Live streaming by individuals have complimented what was a reserve for TV, by way of live broadcasting, while personalizing online tools such as WhatsApp, have scaled up news spread as content creators unlimited by routine formal institutional bottlenecks
The findings show a fundamental realignment towards digital platforms. When asked which medium they had used in the past week, social media (27 per cent) edged ahead of television (25 per cent) for the first time, while radio stood at 19 per cent.
Print media continued its sharp decline, with weekly newspaper readership falling from 20 per cent in 2024 to 13 per cent in 2025 – its lowest level, down from 26 per cent in 2023. Daily television viewership also dropped from 63 per cent in 2024 to 57 per cent in 2025, though prime-time slots between 7pm and 10pm remain popular.
Over the past two decades, digital media has been giving traditional (print and electronic) media globally a run for their money - mainly because the internet has changed how people consume news.
As such, traditional media have had to aggressively establish online platforms even as new small sized digital media outlets come up aggressively.
Notice, for the first time, news and content can be created by individuals instead of media companies who may have vested interests, expanding room for plurality and duality of voices in the media space especially for the most vulnerable to be heard and seen.
Online media has become an avenue for human rights activism, environmental protection, voicing dissatisfaction or a platform for protest, political mobilisation, whistle blowing and sharing ideas and experiences about governance.
An earlier study by the Media Council of Kenya released in January 2026; Navigating the Digital Reality: Monetization Challenges and Opportunities for Kenyan Media in the Digital Economyestablished that, digital technologies have fundamentally reshaped media production, distribution, and business models worldwide, producing both opportunities—such as cost efficiencies, larger audience reach, and new revenue streams—and threats, including declining legacy advertising and platform dependencies.
It further noted that newsrooms in Kenya, both offline and digital, have innovated new approaches to monetize their content, including programmatic advertising, sponsored or native content, branded partnerships, subscription and paywall experiments, mobile payment or donation models, affiliate marketing, and events.
On digital platforms used to access news or entertainment content, over 50% of Kenyans participating in the study used social media (Facebook, X/twitter, TikTok, Instagram), and streaming platforms (Netflix, Showmax, Spotify, YouTube), in that order as news websites, radio and television play the chase game.
Interestingly, entertainment content leads the park on what audiences want from media platforms while the reason people are flocking the various news platforms range from real-time updates, credibility of sources, personalized recommendations, how much media outlets adopt feedback by way of user-generated content to access the content and business-related content.
While 59 per cent of respondents were aware of AI’s use, 63 per cent could not identify AI-generated content. Sixty-one per cent said they used platforms deploying AI, with nearly half reporting an improved experience.
Live streaming; real time fact checking and crowd sourcing of events enables the youth to counter official government narratives, attract global attention, and generate real-time accountability.
The digital public sphere thus fosters a new sense of shared national experience grounded in participatory politics rather than ethnic or partisan affiliations. In equal measure, digital platforms have seen the rise of whistleblowing as a civic practice as Kenyans to expose corruption, challenge opaque state decisions, and defend public interest.
Such actions have broken traditional gatekeeping by the government, religious bodies or parents (politicians) which how young Kenyans are redefining national loyalty not as fear of the state, but as the defense of public assets and transparency.
Memes have also emerged as a distinctive mode of political expression and national identity formation among Kenyan youths. Memes remix political symbols, national imagery, and public figures into humorous or satirical content that critiques authority and fosters a shared political consciousness.
Because of their viral nature, memes are easily and widely shared allowing them to circumvent traditional media control and reach large audiences rapidly
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