Debates about the media market often focus on newsroom layoffs or the decline of print, but the transformation runs deeper and mirrors global trends. The National Media and Infocommunications Authority (Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság, NMHH) concluded in its 2025 media market report that digital platforms continued to strengthen in Hungary last year, while interest in traditional media services fell, especially among younger age groups.
Television: sets remain common, usage shifts
Television remains widespread — nine out of ten Hungarian households have a set — yet viewers increasingly combine traditional and internet-based viewing. According to the NMHH, nearly two-thirds of televisions are now internet-capable smart devices, and pure internet-based subscriptions grew by 14 percent in a single year. This reflects the cord-cutting phenomenon, where part of the audience progressively disconnects from traditional linear TV services.
Generational differences are pronounced: people under 40, smart-TV users, streaming subscribers, and higher-income or higher-educated viewers spend far less time with traditional TV than older cohorts. More than half of TV households already have access to streaming services, and those services are offering increasingly the kinds of content that used to belong exclusively to linear broadcasters.
Audio: radio stays strong, podcasts expand
Radio continues to be a powerful medium in Hungary, with about seven million weekly listeners. At the same time, online radio and podcasts are gaining ground: by the end of 2024 there were 806 Hungarian-language podcast channels, and two-thirds of internet users listen to podcasts with some regularity. Among under-35s, music streaming services are already more popular than traditional radio listening.
Press: the largest upheaval
The most significant change is visible in the press sector. Only 42 percent of Hungarians aged 16 and over read printed newspapers regularly, and that share is much lower among younger people. Meanwhile, more than three thousand online content providers operate in Hungary, of which over two thousand are internet news products.
The NMHH notes that the total traffic of the ten largest domestic online news outlets has fallen in recent years. One explanation is that users increasingly do not visit news sites directly; they encounter content through social media, mobile apps, search engines or recommendation systems.
Algorithms and AI reshape distribution and business models
Content distribution no longer depends solely on publishers’ own platforms: the same story can appear in a Google search result, a TikTok video, a Facebook post, a YouTube recommendation or an AI-generated summary. The NMHH argues that generative artificial intelligence is no longer merely a technological novelty but a factor that is transforming business models and newsroom workflows. For example, the BBC already uses algorithmically personalized news feeds, and the German Axel Springer media group has announced automation of roles previously performed by humans.
What this means for publishers
Younger audiences do not necessarily consume less media; they consume differently — on mobile devices, in video formats, on social surfaces and via algorithmic recommendations, often without recognizing the originating newsroom. As a result, organizational adaptation is becoming less optional for media companies. Those likely to succeed will be the publishers that stop hoping for a return to old consumption patterns and instead adjust to a media environment where content is aligned to the user and to a platform ecosystem.
