Engagement with media sources such as TV, print, and news websites is continuing to fall as the dependence on social media, video platforms and influencers continues to grow.
Reuters Institute Digital News Report found that in the United States, where its research overlapped with the first few weeks of the Trump administration, usd of social media for news was up by six percentage points, while traditional sources received no such Trump Bump.
One-fifth (22%) of Reuters’ United States sample says they came across news or commentary from popular podcaster Joe Rogan in the week after the inauguration, including a disproportionate number of young men. In France, young news creator Hugo Travers (HugoDécrypte) reaches 22% of under-35s with content distributed mainly via YouTube and TikTok.
Around a third of Reuters’ global sample use Facebook (36%) and YouTube (30%) for news each week. Instagram (19%) and WhatsApp (19%) are used by around a fifth, while TikTok (16%) remains ahead of X at 12%.
Data show that usage of X for news is stable or increasing across many markets, with the biggest uplift in the United States (+8pp), Australia (+6pp), and Poland (+6pp). However, Reuters notes that since Elon Musk took over the former Twitter in 2022, more right leaning people hace joined the platform, while progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently. Rival networks like Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon are making little impact globally, with reach of 2% or less for news.
United States has among the highest proportion (15%) accessing one or more podcasts in the last week, with many of these now filmed and distributed via video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. By contrast, many northern European podcast markets remain dominated by public broadcasters or big legacy media companies and have been slower to adopt video versions
