Research

Media Consumption Survey

March 21, 2025

Galvanize Action surveyed 1,139 moderate women to better understand their media habits, including which social and traditional media platforms they use, how much time they spend on them, and the types of content they most enjoy.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Almost all respondents use Facebook daily (93%), with a little over half of them (52%) spending at least one hour on it.
A large majority (86%) spend time on YouTube, 50% of them for more than one hour per day.
Time spent on social media platforms varies by age. In order of time spent:
- 55+: Facebook, YouTube
- 35-55: YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram
- 18-34: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat
The most commonly-reported reasons for using social media were connecting with friends & family and then filling spare time/entertainment.
In order of preference, women in this sample prefer content related to food and cooking, news and current events, hobby and DIY, and then health and fitness. Younger women (18-34) are more likely to enjoy parenting, educational, and fashion and beauty content than women 55+ are.
Women in this sample are not regularly seeking new accounts or content to follow: 57% said they do so once a month or less, and only 15% said that they do so often.
When women surveyed do want to discover new accounts to follow on social media, they use the search function (searching by name or topic) or friends and connections (e.g. tags, mentions, shared posts).

OPEN-ENDED QUESTION #1
What do you like most about the social media platforms that you use?

Theme	Percent	Examples
Friends & Family	>44%	“Keeping up / staying in contact with friends and family”
Entertainment	>14%	“Something to pass the time”
News & Information	>10%	“Keeping up with current events” “Finding out news”
Community & Belonging	>5%	“Connecting with community”
Learning & Inspiration	>3%	“Learn new ways of doing things” “Finding new items, ideas”

OPEN-ENDED QUESTION #2
What do you like least about the social media platforms that you use?

Theme	Percent	Examples
Ads & Commercialization	>13%	“Too many ads” “Ads always pop up”
Misinformation & Fake News	>10%	“Fake news” “It’s getting harder to tell fact from fiction”
Negativity & Toxicity	>9%	“People being mean and nasty” “Too much drama”
Privacy & Scams	>5%	“Hackers and security breaches” “Government spying”
Time Consuming	>3%	“Too addictive” “Wasting time watching useless videos”
Comparison & Self-Esteem	>3%	“Comparing lives” “Makes me feel bad about myself”

TV AND STREAMING SERVICES

A majority of this sample (58%) watches traditional TV (e.g., cable) for at least an hour a day.
The most popular streaming services with our audience are Netflix (60% spend more than 1 hour per day), Amazon (43%), and Hulu (40%).
In order of preference, the genres respondents enjoy most are drama, crime & mystery, and action & adventure.

PODCASTS

Podcasts are not popular with this sample: 40% said they never listen to podcasts. This varies by age group: 58% of 18-34 year olds listen to podcasts at least sometimes (1-2 times a week), while only 28% of those aged 55+ listen at that frequency.
Of those who listen to podcasts, the most popular genres are true crime, news & current events, then humor & comedy.

NEWS

Respondents were most likely to consume the news on TV (49% often watch the news on TV), from news websites (40%), or from friends on social media (39%).
- Traditional TV is the most popular source (47% get their news at least “often” from here). Radio and podcasts are least popular.
- This varies by age. Women aged 18-34 reported getting their news primarily from friends on social media, then websites and TV.
The devices they use to access the news are smartphones, TVs, and laptops.
When it comes to important topics like public health, science, social issues, foreign affairs, economics, and politics, women rely mostly on their friends and family or news organizations for information.