In a huge shift, Americans 49 years old and younger have shifted to online digital news outlets and away from television, and it’s a trend that is growing fast and wide, according to a comprehensive new survey of news consumption.
The Pew Research Center said that 50 percent of Americans 18-29 and 49 percent of those aged 30-49 have made the shift.
“TV news use is dramatically lower among younger adults, suggesting further shake-ups to come,” said Pew’s report out Thursday.
The findings were worse for print, now on life support. Just 5 percent of Americans 18-29 often get their news from print, and it was 10 percent for those 30-49.
Among all Americans, 57 percent get their news from TV, but that is skewed by older Americans.
Key findings:
— As of early 2016, just two-in-ten U.S. adults often get news from print newspapers. This has fallen from 27% in 2013.
— This decrease occurred across all age groups, though the age differences are still stark: Only 5% of 18- to 29-year-olds often get news from a print newspaper, whereas about half (48%) of those 65 and older do.
— Compared with print, nearly twice as many adults (38%) often get news online, either from news websites/apps (28%), on social media (18%) or both. (81% of adults ever get news on these online platforms.)
— TV continues to be the most widely used news platform; 57% of U.S. adults often get TV-based news, either from local TV (46%), cable (31%), network (30%) or some combination of the three. This same pattern emerges when people are asked which platform they prefer
– TV sits at the top, followed by the web, with radio and print trailing behind.
— But demographics speak to the fragility behind those TV numbers. While solid majorities of both those ages 50-64 (72%) and those 65+ (85%) often get news on TV, far smaller shares of younger adults do so (45% of those 30-49 and 27% of those 18-29). Alternatively, the two younger groups of adults are much more likely than older adults to turn to online platforms for news – 50% of 18- to 29-year-olds and 49% of those ages 30-49 often do so.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
