Reflections on 2024 and Outlook for 2025: A Year of Digital Disruption [Video]

As we bid farewell to 2024, it’s clear that the Irish media and political landscape has undergone a year of digital disruption, writes Garrett Harte, Managing Director of Harte Media.

The digital upheaval, which has been gathering pace for years, has finally reached a tipping point, reshaping how we consume information and engage with brands and politicians alike.

For the first time, online news consumption surpassed television as the primary source of information.

33% of people now access news “online, excluding social media,” compared to 31% who rely on TV. This shift in audience behaviour, in a year of three elections, was marked.

Taoiseach Simon Harris‘ encounter with disability worker Charlotte Fallon in Kanturk, captured on an iphone and viewed millions of times on social media, gained top billing on all media outlets in the days leading up to polling.

It was a moment that received more political analysis and media coverage than I …