If there’s ever been a time when news consumption is important, it’s the past few months.
But as racial unrest, a pandemic, and more sweep across the country, an interesting trend is emerging about young people – specifically where they get their news.
According to a recent study from Horowitz Research, a media insights company, over half of people age 18-34 say they get their news primarily from the internet. “Young people use the internet more” is hardly a surprise, but what’s interesting is that barely 20% say they get most of their news from TV – and only 33% say television is the best way to get news.
So not only are young people getting their news online, they actually trust the internet more than television by a large margin. The study specifically mentioned that the younger generation feels their parents and grandparents don’t get an accurate picture of ongoing racial protests if they only watch TV news.
The numbers change considerably as the demographics age, with 56% of adults 25-54 and almost 65% of adults 35+ favoring TV news.
How does this relate to streaming television? Local TV news is a big part of many people’s decision to stick by cable (even though they’re readily available through a number of streaming services), and if young people – who are now spending their own money and making their own choices – don’t have a connection to traditional TV, the already expedited exodus will only get faster.
This data came from Horowitz Research’s State Of Viewing & Streaming 2020 study. 2,000 TV content viewers aged 18 and up (both English and Spanish speaking) were included. Data was weighted for life stage, age, sex, family households, pay TV subscribers, cord-cutters, and streamers to get a good representation of the population.
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