1. Introduction T HE Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe conducted a media audience survey to help various stakeholders have a nuanced appreciation of media audiences and consumption habits in Zimbabwe. This report highlights points of intersection between Zimbabwe’s reconfigured political economy and emerging patterns of media needs, consumption and use in recent times. While changes in media audiences and consumption habits have been significantly altered by the reconfigured political economy, the onset and aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic also added to these changes, exacerbating rather than initiating the changes. The study illustrates how a reconfigured political economy, which has brought widespread informalisation of the economy and resulted in seismic changes visible in the changing patterns of social differentiation and the emergence of new social bases and actors, has, in turn, given birth to new media audiences, use patterns and consumption habits. These ‘ new actors are dominated by small businesses and individual operators, a shift from formal and large businesses, which were visibly dominant pre-2000. The new economy is anchored within the informal sector and is driven by vendors, cross-border traders, tuckshop owners, mechanics, artisans and a host number of services. This has led to a new media ecosystem that could not support the conventional mass media that dominated the industry pre2000. Coupled with the changes in technology, especially the rise of the mobile telephone use and internet connectivity, it led to new media consumption habits and patterns anchored in digital media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and websites, among many others. The study adopted an exploratory and mixed methods approach for the media audience survey to facilitate the triangulation of data sources. The exploratory component was included to ensure independence and allow respondents to articulate responses outside pre- COUPLED with the changes in technology, especially the rise of the mobile telephone and internet, it led to new media consumption habits and patterns anchored in digital media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, X, Linked-In, Instagram, YouTube and websites, among many others. determined frameworks. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to analyse variation by setting, gender and age, among other variables. The collection of qualitative and quantitative data made it possible to triangulate data and generate adequate information for evidence-based decision-making and recommendations. Complementary qualitative and quantitative data analysis increased the reliability and validity of conclusions and recommendations. Below is a summation of the data collection process. Interpretive views of media users are crucial to describing context and defining a new trajectory that can be espoused by media scholars, practitioners, advertisers and even policymakers who are interested in promoting a vibrant media that can support and sustain equitable and inclusive development. In framing this study, an assumption was made that whatever the status of the media in Zimbabwe emanates from the operating environment, i.e, political, economic and social — or, more generally, its political economy. The restructuring of the media landscape in Zimbabwe now necessarily depends on the forms of media users and uses and the kind of media that are central to the fomenting of the reconfigured political economy. The political economy approach helped to answer the structural questions, hence, underlying antecedents that shape the current media structures and consumption habits in Zimbabwe. 1