Millennials news consumption U.S. 2022| ��ƽ��

Frequency of using selected news sources among millennials in the United States as of August 2022

Characteristic	Daily	A few times per week	Once per week	A few times per month	Once per month	Less than once per month	Never
Social media	45%	20%	8%	7%	3%	5%	12%
Streaming services	32%	17%	7%	8%	3%	6%	27%
Radio	18%	20%	8%	10%	5%	8%	30%
Online-only news sites	17%	20%	9%	12%	5%	8%	28%
Cable news	14%	15%	7%	9%	4%	11%	41%
Network news	13%	17%	8%	12%	5%	9%	36%
Podcasts	11%	15%	8%	8%	6%	9%	43%
Local newspapers	7%	12%	10%	11%	5%	13%	42%
National newspapers	6%	11%	7%	9%	5%	12%	51%

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Source

Release date

October 2022

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

August 11 to 17, 2022

Number of respondents

1,270 respondents

Age group

25-40

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

Respondents participating in the survey were born between 1981 and 1996.
This question was phrased by the source as follows: "How often do you turn to the following sources for news?"

Citation formats

Data from a survey held in August 2022 in the United States revealed that the most popular news source among millennials was social media, with 45 percent of respondents reporting daily news consumption on social networks. This was more than double the share who got their news via radio. When it comes to trust, though, social media does not fare well.

Social media and news consumption

As adults of all ages spend more and more time on social media, news consumption via this avenue is likely to increase, but something which could affect this trend is the lack of trust in the news consumers encounter on social platforms. Although now the preferred option for younger audiences, social networks are among the least trusted news sources in the United States, and concerns about fake news remain prevalent.

Young audiences and fake news

Inaccurate news is a major problem which worsened during the 2016 and 2020 presidential election campaigns and the COVID-19 pandemic. A global study found that most Gen Z and Millennial news consumers ignored fake coronavirus news on social media, but almost 20 percent interacted with such posts in the comments section, and over seven percent shared the content. Younger news consumers in the United States were also the most likely to report feeling overwhelmed by COVID-19 news. As younger audiences were the most likely to get their updates on the outbreak via social media, this also made them the most susceptible to fake news, and younger generations are also the most prone to ‘doomscrolling’, an addictive act where the reader pursues and digests multiple negative or upsetting news articles in one sitting.