The Dominican Republic is home to various media outlets such as newspapers, printed and digital media, TV, radio, broadcasting, social media, and freedom of speech. The Dominican Republic guarantees freedom of the press and imposes imprisonment on journalists guilty of crimes such as libel and defamation. Although the country has experienced some turmoil in the past, there is no evidence of an actual threat toward journalists and locals.¹ On the other hand, the Dominican Republic is a great place to spread your business and media needs. 

With a high level of human development, this beautiful country offers a bright future and digital career opportunities. With over USD$ 952.4 million and a share of 70.7%, e-Commerce generated the highest digital revenues in 2020. On the other hand, FinTech transaction values are forecasted to grow by 18.8% from 2020 to 2025.²

Internet Usage

The Dominican Republic’s largest city is Santo Domingo, leading to an internet penetration of 71.13% in 2020.³ Regarding the internet, 78.4% of consumers used the internet, and out of them, 83.1 mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people were noted in 2020. With that said, the Dominican Republic has ranked the 46th country with the most internet usage globally.⁴ The leading internet providers in the country are Claro and Altice Dominicana.⁵

Online studying methods and how people communicate have changed during the pandemic lockdown and beyond. The leading online studying methods include WhatsApp (90.2%), web platforms (11.7%), and video calls.⁶

Social Media  

The Dominican Republic had over 7 million social media users on average in just 2021.⁷ The most popular desktop and mobile social media platforms are YouTube (44.18%), Facebook (25.98%), Pinterest (12.77), Twitter (11.1%), and Instagram (3.51%) to name a few.⁸ Facebook leads with a median user age group of 25 to 34 (32.8%).⁹ Instagram is not too far behind Facebook, with 5.75 million users projected in 2025.¹⁰ The median age using Instagram is 25-34. YouTube also has incredible numbers, with over 6.39 million users.¹¹

Social Media Advertising

According to Statista, social media advertising as a global entity is expected to grow exponentially. “Ad spending in the Social Media Advertising segment is projected to reach USD$230.30 billion in 2022. Ad spending is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2022 to 2026) of 11.99%, resulting in a projected market volume of USD$362.20 billion by 2026. In global comparison, most ad spending will be generated in the United States (USD$80,670.00 million in 2022).In the Social Media Advertising segment, USD$304.70 billion of total ad spending will be generated through mobile in 2026. The number of users in the Social Media Advertising segment is expected to amount to 5,756 million users by 2026.” The latest research states that globally speaking, the market in digital media will reach over USD$331.70 billion in 2022.¹²

Researcher José Gabriel Navarro stated that 32.7% of people in the Dominican Republic trust the media. “In 2021, the Dominican Republic had a press freedom index of 25.6 points, down from 27.9 a year earlier. According to this global ranking, the greater the index score, the worse the situation is regarding press freedom in a given country. In the years shown from 2015 to 2021, the index score has decreased by 1.71 points, marking an improvement in press freedom in the Dominican Republic.” 

Though the numbers sound promising, it is important to note that journalists or people in the media who talk about drugs or corruption have experienced threats even though access to broadcasting and social media posting is not restricted. Some of the most popular newspapers in the Dominican Republic are El Caribe, Hoy, El Nacional, El Diario Libre, etc.

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*This market profile was written by Gabriel Marrero Girona, Lead Intelligence Advisor at DuartePino, in collaboration with Amelia Reyes from AF Comunicación Estratégica in the Dominican Republic.

References:

1. https://rsf.org/en/country/dominican-republic
2. Statista, 2022.
3. World Bank 2020, World Bank 2019, HamInfo 2019, United Nations 2018, UN-Habitat 2016, Statista 2020.
4. Statista, based on ITU, as of Q4 2020.
5. Dominican Institute of Telecommunications; ID 1199584.
6. United Nations; UNFPA; ID 1199971.
7. We Are Social; Hootsuite; DataReportal; ID 1034666.
8. StatCounter; ID 449862.
9. NapoleonCat; ID 950869.
10. Statista; ID 1138862.
11. Social Blade; ID 972084.
12. Statista, 2022.