Information and communication technologies in everyday life and culture

Module on culture - a new part of the ICT Survey

What's playing at the cinema today? What is the latest show at the theatre? How much does a ticket to your favourite festival cost? We will first look for answers to these questions on the internet. We live in an age completely permeated by digital technologies. We can no longer avoid the great treasure trove of information called the internet because it has become an integral part of our everyday life. The internet has become an increasingly common tool for finding information about cultural events, as well as a place to listen to music, and even to buy tickets.

Since 2007, a survey has been conducted on the usage of information and communication technologies (ICT) in households and among individuals.[1] The aim of the survey is to obtain data on the level of computer literacy, but also on the habits of individuals and households when it comes to searching the internet. Since 2025, the survey has also included questions related to culture. The inclusion of a module on culture enables more detailed monitoring of the application of modern technologies, primarily the internet, for searching for cultural content, but also for purchasing tickets for cultural content, which applies to individuals and households.

The internet in the service of searching for cultural content

The comprehensiveness of the internet and its integration into everyday life is also reflected in the fact that in 2025 in Croatia, 88.0% of its users read newspapers and/or magazines online. The data show that 76.7% of users searched the internet for cultural content. The most searched topics were popular music and cinema content, with slightly less interest in festivals, classical music, historical sites and theatre, while the least searched were museums, galleries, dance performances and cultural workshops, with less than 15.0% of internet users searching for this type of content.
 
As regards the gender of internet users who searched for cultural content, women made up 49.8% and men 50.2%.

When it comes to their age, the largest share was made up of people from the 35 - 44 age group (23.2%). The over-65 age group accounted for the smallest share of visits to sites with cultural content (8.0%).

According to the level of educational attainment, 59.6% of internet users who searched for cultural content had completed secondary education, 33.4% had completed higher education, and 7.0% had completed basic education.
   
Have you ever bought an e-book or a cinema ticket online?

The results of the survey show that 51% of internet users purchased goods and services online. When it comes to the preferences of online buyers of cultural products from Croatia, they mostly opt to buy e-books, 35.3% of them to be exact. When it comes to subscriptions to cultural products, services for streaming movies and series lead the way (13.1% in total).
 
It is interesting to note that, in 2025, there was a significant increase in the purchase of e-books in Croatia compared to 2024. Croatia is the third country in the EU in terms of the percentage of the population that buys e-books, behind Ireland and Denmark.
 
Data on online ticket purchases obtained from this survey show that 33.0% of internet users in 2025 purchased tickets for one or more cultural events.

By gender of buyers, 53.9% of online buyers are women. An interesting discrepancy can be seen in the case of purchasing museum tickets, where men lead with a share of 16.6% compared to women, with 9.3%.
   
As regards the age of internet users, the majority of online ticket buyers for cultural events are in the 16-24 age group (27.3%) and in the 35-44 age group (25.7%) and have completed secondary education (50.6%).
   
The inclusion of questions about culture in the Information and Communication Technologies Survey contributed to a greater understanding of the habits of those who use technology, primarily the internet, for searching for and consuming cultural content. For the first time, the habits of individuals and households can be clearly tracked in the context of culture. This is an important step forward in collecting data that describe the digital cultural everyday life of the inhabitants of Croatia.

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