Online Media

According to the data of the State Statistics Office for 2022, 86.6 per cent of households in North Macedonia have internet access at home.

The number of online media is unknown because according to the law on media, they are not recognized as media, and therefore, are not regulated in any way. However, an approximate number can be estimated from the State Election Commission where portals have to register before each election if they wish to publish election campaigns on their websites.

In 2021, a total of 191 informative portals registered for the local elections.

According to Eurostat data, in 2021, 72 per cent of Macedonian citizens reported getting information through online portals. According to a public opinion survey conducted by the International Republican Institute in May 2023, when asked which source the respondents use most often for political news, 73 per cent said that they get information from TV, while 38 per cent get it from online media.

Nevertheless, the popularity of portals in North Macedonia has continued to grow over the years.

Three sources were taken into account when making the selection of online media included in the Media Ownership Monitor in North Macedonia database: data from "Similarweb", a company specialized in measuring internet traffic, data from Picasa Analytics, a company specializing in data analysis, and "CrowdTangle", a public insight tool from "Meta" that analyzes public posts on social networks. Online media that were found in at least two sources were then included in the database.