TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism unveiled its annual Digital News Report 2025 on Wednesday (June 18), bestowing a significant accolade upon TVBS as Taiwan's most trusted commercial television network for an impressive eighth year in a row. The comprehensive media analysis, which surveyed thousands of news consumers across 46 markets globally, awarded TVBS a trust rating of 54% among Taiwanese viewers, cementing its position as a stalwart in the island's increasingly digital media landscape.
The landmark report highlights a dramatic digital transformation in Taiwan's media consumption habits, with a substantial 83% of citizens now turning to online sources for news, significantly outpacing traditional television viewership at 56% and print media, which has dwindled to just 14%. Mobile technology dominates this shift, with smartphones serving as the primary news access point for an overwhelming 89% of Taiwanese consumers. TVBS has successfully navigated this evolving landscape by maintaining robust cross-platform relevance, commanding a leading 37% weekly usage rate among traditional offline media outlets despite the accelerating migration toward digital platforms.
In the digital realm, TVBS News Network has secured a formidable position with a 26% weekly usage rate, placing it among Taiwan's top three digital news platforms, trailing only behind internet giants Yahoo! News and ETtoday. The report paints a concerning picture of Taiwan's broader media environment, where trust in news sources has eroded by 3 percentage points since last year, settling at a mere 30% amid increasingly partisan political divisions. Business-focused publications have emerged as the most credible information sources in this fractured landscape, with CommonWealth Magazine (天下雜誌) and Business Weekly (商業周刊) jointly claiming the highest trust ratings at 58%.
The Reuters Institute report contextualizes Taiwan's media landscape within the global press freedom environment, noting that the democratic island ranks 24th among 180 countries and territories evaluated in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (無國界記者組織), an international media watchdog organization. Taiwan's respectable score of 77.04 places it among the world's more open media environments, despite the challenges of declining trust and political polarization identified in the broader news consumption analysis. ◼