Mobile news consumption continues to shape how younger Americans get information.
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Few things matter more to the news business right now than understanding how people actually consume information. On that score, Pew’s latest survey makes one thing crystal clear: Age plays a huge role in how Americans prefer to get their news, creating a generational split with major ramifications for TV networks, streaming platforms, and digital publishers.
What’s more: The data shows that there’s not been all that much variation to speak of, at least in the recent past, in terms of how different age groups consume news. As Pew puts it: “The information environment has experienced major changes in recent years, from the rise of podcasts and news influencers on social media to declining audiences for traditional news outlets. But overall, there has been little shift in the way Americans prefer to get their news—whether by watching it, reading it or listening to it.”
For example, start with older adults. According to the survey, 57% of Americans 65 and older prefer to watch the news. For this group, “watching” means consuming cable news, local broadcasts, or national networks on a TV screen, never mind the streaming revolution that’s turned almost everything about the TV business inside-out.
A separate Pew analysis from earlier this year actually drives that point home: The median viewer for CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, and CNN is now between ages 50 and 58, a reminder of just how heavily the strength of TV news remains tied to older viewers.
For younger adults, meanwhile, keeping up with the news means something much different.
Among Americans under 30, the biggest share (45%) prefer to read their news, and they’re doing so almost entirely on their phones. Across websites, apps, search engines, and social feeds—reading for this age group is less about loyalty to a specific publisher and more about whatever surfaces in front of them. Another 31% of young adults say they prefer watching news, while 23% prefer listening to news (specifically, to podcasts and the like).
As if all that wasn’t complicated enough, actually finding this age group is its own challenge for the news business. Nearly one-in-five adults under 30 don’t regularly get news from any of the 30 major news sources Pew examined, opting instead for social platforms, YouTubers, TikTok creators, and influencers.
The takeaways: At least according to Pew’s latest data, older viewers still rely on TV for news in a way that feels like a ritual, while younger adults (who’ll eventually move into that older demographic) are scattered across devices and platforms in their watching, reading, and listening.
Even for the young adults who do prefer reading the news, the business side of that habit increasingly finds itself in a less than ideal state. Publishers are juggling softer ad markets, shrinking referral traffic from the big social platforms, and the ramifications of Google’s AI search overhaul.
As for audio, after years of experimentation and big bets, the format is still more niche than the industry would no doubt prefer. Only 19% of Americans say listening is their preferred way to follow the news—basically unchanged since 2018. Even with NPR, Spotify, The New York Times and others pouring money into podcasts, the format hasn’t quite broken into the mainstream.