The study investigated media use trends in Hungary through three focus groups of mixed composition, each representing a different age cohort. The findings show that news consumption has become multi-platform, with digital video content and podcasts markedly gaining in popularity, alongside traditional news portals and Facebook – particularly when users dedicate “quality time” to content consumption. Interestingly, consumers form attachments not only to channels, but also to specific public figures and individual styles.

One of the study’s most important findings is that users now frequently discover content not through targeted searches, but through recommendations, whether from algorithms, friends or colleagues. Algorithm-driven content consumption is convenient, but it also threatens to trap consumers in filter bubbles. By their own admission, respondents often make a conscious effort to compensate for this, for example by seeking out views that are contrary to their own. While 18–39 year olds tend to navigate content in a networked fashion, using a combination of YouTube and Reddit, middle-aged users are more inclined to stick with familiar news portals, preferring editorial oversight.

The concept of “high-quality, editorially curated content” emerged consistently across all three focus groups: well-considered, fact-checked and sophisticated material that is sharply differentiated from quick, superficial or opinion-driven online content. Respondents identified source attribution as the most important criterion of credibility: articles or other content clearly showing where the data, quotes and claims came from was considered more valuable.

On the topic of advertising and sponsored content, the majority of respondents accepted that content producers need to generate revenue, but stress that the manner and format in which advertisements appear matters greatly. Younger audiences found sponsored content to be is more acceptable if it is short, creative and organically integrated into the content. Among 40–65-year-olds, however, intrusive advertisements significantly undermine the credibility of the content provider. Across all age groups, transparency and a clear distinction between sponsored material and editorial content emerged as a key expectation.

Reflecting on the future, participants were both optimistic and realistic: they believe the role of short, fast formats will continue to grow, but quality, in-depth, explanatory content will also endure for a smaller but stable audience over the long term. Interestingly, even the younger group frequently talked about quality content as a kind of “counterweight”: they see it as offering a handhold, with context and more detailed explanations as a contrast to the shorter, more superficial formats.

Respondents viewed artificial intelligence (AI) as both a risk and an opportunity. In the short term, AI may accelerate content consumption while threatening the financing of more substantive, longer-form material. In the long term, however, some participants could imagine a situation where well-deployed AI could support and complement quality editorial work.