Back to Basics: Romanians rebalance media consumption as traditional channels regain ground

The latest wave of Spark Foundry’s FOCUS ON: New Media Adoption study reveals a major shift in Romania’s urban internet users’ media habits, search behaviors, and digital engagement. After a period marked by political tension and intense online activity, audiences are entering a phase of normalization: attention is returning to trusted traditional media, while overall digital engagement slows.

Traditional media – TV, radio, and print – is regaining attention, while most digital platforms are seeing slight declines. Trust in TV news is on the rise, even as the convenience of online news continues to influence habits.Meanwhile, second-screen behaviors and multitasking while watching TV have dropped sharply, and digital platforms are losing ground as substitutes for traditional sources of information.

Artificial intelligence adoption continues to rise, but users are becoming more cautious and selective. Social media still plays a role in maintaining personal connections, yet engagement and shopping-related behaviors are declining. Influencer impact is weakening, with lower commitment and reduced influence on purchasing decisions. At the same time, Metaverse awareness remains stable, but interest in virtual experiences is falling-except for virtual stores.

“These findings show a clear change in mindset,” explains Mădălina Bâdea, Head of Data Insights at Spark Foundry. “If in May 2025 public attention was strongly oriented toward digital media and online communities, driven by the presidential elections and international tensions, today we observe a significant rebalancing: a gradual return to traditional sources of information and a decline in engagement with online activities and social platforms. This shift can be explained by the normalization of the political context, but also by a growing need for safety and information verification. In addition, while artificial intelligence adoption continues to rise, users are becoming more selective and cautious toward automatically generated content, reflecting a maturation of digital behavior.”

Family TV viewing continues to decline slightly, including children’s TV and online video consumption, while shared viewing on streaming platforms remains stable. Although trust in TV news is increasing, fewer people rely exclusively on television for news, suggesting that credibility is valued but digital convenience still shapes habits. Second-screen behaviors have dropped significantly, with fewer people browsing, commenting, or multitasking online while watching TV. Social networks are also seeing a slight decline as a source of entertainment and information, suggesting a gradual shift back toward search engines or traditional sources.

When it comes to attention to media types, traditional channels such as TV and printed press continue to grow, while digital platforms like YouTube, video-on-demand, social media, and podcasts show slight

declines. Television ranks first in attention, followed by YouTube, then video-on-demand and social media. Age splits reveal that classic TV and radio dominate among audiences aged 35-44 and over 55,

while younger viewers aged 18-44 favor VOD and podcasts. Social media remains most popular among those aged 18-24 and 35-44.

News consumption patterns also reflect this shift. Following the election period, interest in domestic politics has dropped sharply, with audiences turning toward entertainment and everyday topics. Health remains the most followed news category, despite a slight decrease compared to the previous wave.

Digital platforms are increasingly losing their role as substitutes for traditional media. TikTok and Instagram record the strongest declines, while Facebook remains stable, chosen by four in ten urban internet users. Google also shows reduced reliance as a primary alternative, and more users report not replacing traditional media at all.

Search behavior is evolving as well. Text-based searches continue to decline, while image-based and voice searches gain traction. Platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are losing relevance as sources of information, as are direct searches on retailer websites.

Across digital activities, all online behaviors have declined compared to previous waves, with the sharpest drops in listening to music online, using social networks, and reading news. Despite this negative trend, searching for information other than news remains the leading online activity, followed by making online payments.

On social media, staying connected with friends is the only motivation that shows growth, while all other reasons either decline or stagnate. Favorite content types remain images and videos, with articles gaining slightly. Instagram activities mostly decline, except for reactions to photos and videos, which now rank second after following friends’ posts. The strongest drops are seen in clicking on sponsored ads, posting stories, and using tags to access brand pages. TikTok awareness of influencer campaigns has fallen to its lowest level, with only social, sustainability, and DIY campaigns showing stability. Music, gastronomy, tourism, and beauty & fashion remain the most memorable campaign categories.

Influencer engagement is increasingly passive, with users more likely to read or appreciate content rather than take strong commitment actions such as following accounts or making influencer-driven purchases, both of which have declined. Currently, 55% of urban internet users follow influencers or content creators.

Metaverse awareness remains steady, with six in ten users familiar with the concept and 63% expressing interest in virtual experiences. However, interest in most experiences has declined, except for virtual stores. Among those interested, 48% would explore socialization, 46% virtual stores, and 42% music concerts.

Artificial intelligence adoption continues to rise, with 56% of users reporting usage. Among them, 64% use AI for chat, 40% for image generation, 37% for document analysis-which shows growth-and 22% for video creation. While chat usage declines, document analysis is gaining traction. AI integration into platforms is accelerating, with Facebook leading and WhatsApp remaining stable, while Instagram, X, Snapchat, and Threads show declines. Nearly half of users believe AI-generated images can be misleading, 33% say they look fake, 27% find them creative, and 17% cannot tell if images are AI-generated.

E-commerce via social media is also changing. Tag functions such as price visibility, direct links, and reduced search time remain highly valued, but transactional behaviors like buying directly from Instagram, shopping on Facebook Marketplace, and click-to-buy from tags are declining.

Finally, smart TV consumption patterns show a decrease among those who watch online content without a subscription (such as YouTube), in favor of those who consume content exclusively via subscription-based services like Netflix, HBO, or Voyo, or those who combine both options.

Methodology

The study was conducted by the Data Intelligence team of the media agency Spark Foundry, using the CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviews) method, on a sample of 802 male and female internet users aged 18 and older, living in urban areas, during the period of October 24-29, 2025.

You can find the report here.

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