Americans online news use is closing in on TV news use
The gap between the share of Americans who get news online and those who do so on television is narrowing.
As of August, 43% of Americans report often getting news online, just 7 percentage points lower than the 50% who often get news on television, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in August. This gap between the two news platforms was 19 points in early 2016, more than twice as large.
The decline in television as a source of news occurs both among 50- to 64-year-olds and 30- to 49-year-olds. The portion of those ages 50 to 64 who often get news on TV fell from 72% in 2016 to 64% today; for 30- to 49-year-olds, this declined from 45% to 35%. And while 18- to 29-year-olds did not show any significant change in their use of television news from early 2016, it was already substantially lower for this age group than for those 50 and older. Indeed, even in early 2016 this youngest age group was about twice as likely to often get news online as on TV (50% vs. 27%), about as large as the gap seen today (52% vs. 23%).
Getting digital news often also increased among nonwhites (up to 45% from 36% in early 2016) and the less educated – those with a high school degree or less went up to 34% from 25%. This is in line with other research showing that these two groups also increased in the portion that ever gets news on social media.
Note: Read the full methodology and topline results here.
