Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The Mass Media Support and Development Public Foundation has presented the results of a national survey on media consumption in Uzbekistan. According to the findings, residents most frequently get their news from Telegram channels, while television remains the most trusted source. The survey covered television, radio, print and online media, social networks and Telegram, the foundation reported.
How the survey was conducted
The survey was conducted from 8 to 19 September 2026. Interviewers met respondents in person at their places of residence. A total of 1,411 people aged 18 and above from all 14 regions of the country took part. Of the respondents, 53.9% lived in urban areas and 46.1% in rural areas. According to the organisers, the multistage sampling method makes the findings nationally representative.
The survey was conducted by the Mass Media Support and Development Public Foundation, the Delegation of the European Union to Uzbekistan and the Media Content Training Centre under the Presidential Administration. Fieldwork was carried out by the Republican Centre for Public Opinion Research, Ijtimoiy Fikr.
Overall picture
A total of 50.4% of respondents said they followed news about the country regularly, while another 30.4% did so occasionally. The most frequently used news sources were Telegram channels (51.6%), television (44.6%), social networks (41.6%), YouTube and video blogs (31.3%), and online publications and news websites (30%).
Respondents chose these sources primarily because of their speed (48.6%), trust in the source (31.3%), availability anytime and anywhere (31%), convenient format (30.9%) and free access (24.1%).
The greatest interest was in events in Uzbekistan (56%) and around the world (40%), followed by local and regional news (22%). Respondents said they needed more information about prices, income, employment and social support (41.3%), public needs (40.6%), healthcare (23%), and laws and citizens’ rights (22%).
Uzbek remains the preferred language for receiving information. Materials in Uzbek using the Cyrillic script were preferred by 71.7% of respondents, while 49.8% chose Uzbek in the Latin script and 43.3% preferred Russian. The share of those favouring Cyrillic increased with age, rising from 47% among people aged 18–24 to 94.3% among respondents over 55.
Television
Television content is watched by 67.5% of survey participants, with older people making up the most frequent audience. Television was trusted by 44.3% of respondents, followed by official government websites (17.3%), Telegram channels (11.3%), news websites (7.4%), social networks (6.7%), and YouTube and video blogs (5.4%). Trust in television increases with age, from 23.1% among respondents aged 18–24 to 70.6% among those aged 55 and above.
The most popular television channels were Milliy TV (44.5%), O‘zbekiston 24 (41.7%), Zo‘r TV (34.9%) and Sevimli TV (33.8%), followed by Yoshlar (28.6%) and Mening Yurtim (26.1%). Men were more likely to choose sports channels, while women more frequently watched Milliy TV and Sevimli TV. O‘zbekiston 24 ranked first in trust among all surveyed groups by gender, age and region. A total of 52.8% of viewers named it as the most reliable channel.
On weekdays, most respondents watched television for between 30 minutes and two hours a day. At weekends, viewing time generally ranged from one to two hours. Most people watched television at home, although younger audiences were more likely to watch television content on smartphones and tablets.
The most common complaints concerned repetitive programmes and reruns, excessive advertising, and the quality of domestic films and television series. Rural residents more frequently called for additional educational programmes and coverage of life in the regions.
Radio
Radio was listened to by 21.9% of respondents, while 78.1% said they did not listen to it. Men listened to the radio more frequently than women. The largest share of listeners was among people aged 35–44 (26.9%), while the lowest was recorded among young people aged 18–24 (16.7%). Radio listening peaked in the morning, before noon. A significant share of the audience also tuned in during the evening, between 18:00 and 21:00.
People mainly listened to the radio at home or in their cars. Among men, 49.7% named their cars as a place where they listened to the radio. Vodiy Sadosi was the most frequently mentioned station, chosen by 38.2% of respondents. Yoshlar and Mahalla were also popular among women and older listeners.
The main reasons for choosing a radio station were its music format (64.4%), up-to-date news (42.7%) and favourite songs (38.5%). Among respondents aged 18–24, 74.5% cited music as a reason for their choice.
Print and online media
Newspapers and online publications were read by 28.3% of respondents. Among these readers, 38.8% used only digital editions, 32.6% read only print versions and 28.6% used both formats. More than half of press readers (55.9%) accessed publications daily, usually at home and in the evening.
Print editions were mainly purchased at kiosks and shops (42.6%) or through subscriptions (32%). Online publications were accessed through mobile applications (58%), Telegram channels (37.2%), media websites (31.6%) and social networks (31.2%).
Among print publications, the most popular were Xalq so‘zi (38.9%), Yangi O‘zbekiston (37.7%) and Mahalla (28.7%). The leading online publications were Kun.uz (74.7%), Daryo.uz (43.5%) and Qalampir.uz (36.8%).
Readers primarily chose publications for their objectivity (50.4%) and reliability (50.1%). They said they wanted more open discussion of social issues (31.8%), objective news (30.1%), analytical coverage (29.1%), investigative journalism (20.6%) and fact-checking (20.1%).
Social networks
Social networks were used by 64.8% of respondents. The share was 84% among young people aged 18–24 and 38.4% among those over 55. The highest levels of social media use were recorded in Andijan Region (88.1%), Khorezm Region (82%) and Samarkand Region (80.2%). Instagram was used by 92.7% of social media users, followed by Facebook (28.2%) and TikTok (14.2%).
A total of 81.3% of social media users accessed these platforms several times a day, most often in the evening between 21:00 and midnight. At weekends, the share of users spending three hours or more on social networks increased from 8.9% to 21.3%.
The main reasons for using social networks were following the news (62.5%) and communicating with family and friends (57.3%). Users identified false information (48.7%), fraud (34%), intrusive advertising (31.9%), suspicious links (24.9%) and attempts to hack accounts (24.2%) as the main problems.
Telegram
Telegram was used by 86.1% of survey participants, including 94.7% of respondents aged 18–24. A total of 85.3% of users opened the messenger several times a day, most frequently in the evening.
Some 55.2% of respondents subscribed to Telegram channels covering news from Uzbekistan, while 27.1% followed channels focused on international news. Educational institutions' channels were followed by 22.4%, while 21.2% subscribed to channels run by local authorities and mahallas.
Telegram users reported problems with unreliable information (35.1%), advertising and spam (31.6%), excessive notifications (26.9%), fraudulent messages (24.4%) and fake online shops (23.2%).
Trust, fake news and freedom of speech
A total of 27.6% of respondents said they encountered unreliable information very or fairly frequently. They most commonly associated it with YouTube and video blogs (50.1%), Telegram channels (44%) and social networks (38.4%).
Fake news was identified as the main problem facing the media by 46.6% of respondents, while 33.1% cited insufficient objectivity. A total of 77.4% supported tougher penalties for spreading false information, and 75.9% believed the state should monitor the reliability of information.
Overall, 65.3% of respondents were satisfied with the development of the media in Uzbekistan. Nearly half (49.7%) believed journalists could express their views freely and cover any subject.
To strengthen media independence, 56.5% proposed improving legal guarantees for freedom of speech, 30.7% called for better journalist training, and 27% supported expanding journalists' access to information held by government agencies.
Organisers' assessment
Mass Media Support and Development Public Foundation Director Jakhongir Azimov said the survey, which he described as exploratory, was unique in its scope.
“The research conducted is exploratory in nature and unique in its own way. It has provided an overall picture of developments in the country's media environment, covering television, radio, print and online media. More detailed research in each area separately is needed to obtain deeper and more objective information, and the Mass Media Foundation is ready to continue this work,” he said.
Renata Wróbel, Chargé d'Affaires of the EU Delegation to Uzbekistan, expressed hope that the findings would serve as a practical resource for all stakeholders and support further cooperation towards building a better-informed, resilient and media-literate society.
The project's second stage will involve training sessions for journalists, press service employees and bloggers in six regions of the country.
