Amy Watson
Research expert covering news and publishing
News consumption in the United States - statistics & facts
News consumption among audiences in the United States now most commonly occurs online, with social media the go-to option for many. In fact, many social media users now get their news from the networks they use. The most popular social platforms for news are X, Facebook, and TikTok. Using social networks to keep up to date is a habit often associated with Gen Z and millennials, but this is changing. Now, older consumers are also demonstrating a preference for social platforms over legacy news media.
Meanwhile, podcast news is very gradually gaining ground among younger audiences. A higher percentage of Gen Z consumers use podcasts for news daily than network or cable news, and young consumers are also more likely to consider podcasts a trustworthy news source than older adults. However, the relationship between news consumption and trust in news does not always work in the way one might expect.
How is news consumption changing?
Social media ranks as the most popular daily news source among adults between 18 and 44 years old, and, interestingly, 45 to 64-year-olds were marginally more likely to go to social media to keep themselves up to date than to watch network news. This left those aged 65 years and above the only remaining group with a clear preference for network news, and newspapers were also among the least used news sources for this demographic. Indeed, print news publications have long struggled to retain audiences, but this growing trend to move online rather than get news via television could foreshadow the gradual decline of TV news. Primetime cable news network viewership is falling, and after a surge in viewers in 2020, fell to new lows in 2023. That year, CNN and MSNBC recorded an average of less than 130 thousand primetime viewers aged 25 to 54 years, and leading network Fox had less than half the viewers recorded five years earlier.Meanwhile, podcast news is very gradually gaining ground among younger audiences. A higher percentage of Gen Z consumers use podcasts for news daily than network or cable news, and young consumers are also more likely to consider podcasts a trustworthy news source than older adults. However, the relationship between news consumption and trust in news does not always work in the way one might expect.
The issue of trust
Trust in news is a complex topic, with consumers’ political stance, a news brand’s reputation, and myriad other factors affecting how audiences perceive the news they read and whether they consider the source to be reliable. Especially significant though is consumers’ willingness to get news regularly from a source they have difficulty trusting. Radio and newspapers may be among the least used but are the most trusted outlets, whereas social media, the increasingly popular place to get news and information, ranked as the least trusted news source in the United States.
