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News consumption habits are shifting faster than most organizations can respond. The audiences are still there — they've just moved. Our entire approach is built on meeting them where they are, not where they used to be.
The data below is drawn from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 — the most comprehensive study of news consumption habits in the world. This is what we're working with. This is what informs every recommendation we make.
Source: Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026 — ~100,000 respondents across 48 markets. All figures US market unless otherwise noted.
The structural shift of the decade in one frame. Social media as a news source went from 27% to 56%. Television's share has narrowed. Print's role has fundamentally changed.
The audiences didn't disappear — they relocated. The question is whether you're reaching them where they are now.
US news sources by mode — 2013 vs 2026
% using each at least weekly
Social media news use rose from 27% to 56% over the decade. "Any online" includes social, video, podcasts, and AI — these bars overlap rather than sum to 100%.
Facebook posted its biggest gain in years. YouTube and Instagram kept climbing. X saw a significant shift away from news use this year, while TikTok also pulled back — both worth watching as the platform landscape continues to evolve.
The throughline: video-native platforms are gaining ground for news. That's where strategy needs to follow.
US platforms for news — weekly reach, year-on-year change
% using each for news weekly; label shows change vs 2025
YouTube (+3) cemented its #2 spot; Facebook's +4 was the largest gain, reversing years of decline. X saw the largest single shift away from news use of any platform this year — a signal worth monitoring.
Overall trust in US news hit a record low this year — 25%, down five points, and twelve below the global average of 37%. The trend is real and worth taking seriously.
But the brand-level data tells a more constructive story. Local television and regional newspapers are trusted more than any national brand. The pressure is concentrated at the top of the masthead — local outlets are the trust anchor in American media.
US news trust — 2015 vs 2026 vs global average
% who trust most news most of the time
Trust sits at 25% this year — 12 points under the 37% global average and the lowest recorded in the US since tracking began in 2015.
Trust by news brand — US, 2026
% saying each is trustworthy
Local TV (56%) and local newspapers (53%) top every national brand. Fox and CBS — both down 10 points this year — show how polarization is hitting national brands from opposite directions.
When Reuters tracked how Americans followed a major breaking story — the late-March Iran conflict — the generational divide was stark. Under-35s went to social and video first. Over-35s went to television at double the rate.
These two groups now live in fundamentally different news environments. A strategy that serves only one of them isn't a strategy — it's a bet.
Best way to follow a breaking story — US, by age
% naming each as the best way to keep up (Iran conflict, March 2026)
Under-35s named social and video the best way to follow the story; over-35s named TV at double the rate. The two age groups now live in different news environments.
Payment for online news has plateaued. Across most markets, 10–20% looks like a natural ceiling — and the US sits at 16% this year. The growth opportunity has shifted.
It now comes from getting more value per reader, not more readers. And the data is clear on why people pay: the #1 reason, by far, is access to content they can't get anywhere else.
One of the most effective ways to build that value is supplemental content that sits alongside your journalism — games, puzzles, quizzes, trivia, daily challenges. The New York Times built an empire on this: its news-only subscriber share dropped from 17% to 12% as Wordle, Connections, and Cooking did the retention work. These products don't require a newsroom to sustain them. Many can be automated or run with minimal ongoing effort, and they give readers a daily reason to return that has nothing to do with the news cycle.
Why online-news payers say they pay
% of payers citing each motivation (20-market average)
'Content I can't get elsewhere' (43%) tops the list by a wide margin. Values-based motives drive 46% of payers — mission-led framing is a real lever, not a nice-to-have.
Share who pay for online news — selected markets, 2026
% of all adults paying for any online news
The US (16%, down 4 pts) sits well below the Nordic outliers. Ireland and Australia are the only non-Nordic markets above 20% — and the only ones with notable growth since 2020.
You will not out-grow the ceiling — you out-earn it, by being distinctive enough to charge for and trusted enough to support.
Every engagement we take on is grounded in this data. Not intuition, not industry habit — the actual evidence of where audiences are, why they pay, and who they trust.
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