How many Maastricht people are on Instagram? Who watches RTV Maastricht? And what is the reach of the local door-to-door newspaper? The municipality of Maastricht regularly conducts research into the media use of its residents. We use this information to align our reporting with the channels citizens use.

At the end of 2020, 2,625 inhabitants indicated which media they use and how often they do so. Some of them participated via an online questionnaire, some received a paper version and others were invited because they are members of the residents’ panel.

The Media Survey 2020 shows that the use of online channels has further increased compared to 2018. We see this in social media like Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Twitter, but also in regional and local news media like limburger.nl, 1Limburg.nl and rtvmaastricht.nl.

Although we did not ask about it in this study, it is not inconceivable that the growing number of users of the local and regional news sites is partly a result of the COVID-19 reporting. In a residents’ survey we conducted last summer, more than half said they follow the news more than they did before COVID-19.

Naturally, we are curious to see how the media use of the people of Maastricht develops.

The conclusion that a channel reaches more inhabitants over a long period of time may be an argument for the municipality of Maastricht to use this channel more often. Even more important than reach is the effect of communication. Does the content we use to reach residents match their needs? And are our communications achieving the goals we have set? That is why in the next survey we will not only look at the range but also at the effect of the media we use.