Mobile ownership

The share of Ukrainians using smartphones is skyrocketing. Compared to just nine percent in 2013, it has grown fivefold in just five years and reached 45 percent of the population in 2018 and already 66% of Ukrainians in 2019. Apparently, such an upheaval can be explained with harsh economic conditions in the first couple of years after the 2014 revolution that was succeeded by sustainable economic growth. According to experts, however, even these digits suggest that Ukraine is still lagging behind Europe in terms of smartphone ownership by three years: 85 percent of people aged 18-30 use devices with touch screen display. The majority thereof live in big cities and have higher education.

An important thing to point out is that the number of mobile phone users has almost reached the number of TV viewers which is 40 million people. Also, judging from the dynamics, there soon will be a moment when the 40 million milestone will be reached by smartphone users alone, too. These dynamics suggest that the long-standing trend of Ukrainian media, according to which the main channel through which information is delivered to the population is television, is likely to change in a matter of years.

Many Ukrainian TV channels in 2020 already felt the “aging of the audience” and tried to reach a younger audience on the Internet.

The gender breakdown of smartphone users also suggests that women use such devices more often (53 percent) than men (47 percent).