From Creators to Newsrooms - How Young Audiences Are Engaging with News. | Reuters X RISJ Webinar

Why It Matters

Understanding youth news habits forces traditional media to redesign distribution and content strategies, crucial for retaining future audiences and advertising revenue.

Key Takeaways

• Social media now primary news source for 18‑24 year-olds.
• Daily news consumption drops among young audiences versus older groups.
• Video platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok dominate youth news access.
• Creators and personalities outrank traditional outlets for young viewers.
• AI chatbots increasingly used by youth to interpret and simplify news.

Summary

The Reuters Institute webinar examined how 18‑24‑year‑olds obtain and engage with news, highlighting a shift from traditional outlets to a social‑first, creator‑driven ecosystem. Using a decade of Digital News Report data, presenters showed that 39% of young people now cite social media as their main news source, up from 21% in 2015, while daily news consumption falls to 64% compared with older cohorts. Key findings reveal a preference for audiovisual formats: young audiences favor video and audio more than reading, with Instagram, YouTube and TikTok leading platform use. Facebook’s share dropped from 47% to 16%, and regional analysis shows Asian and Latin American markets embracing video more than Europe. Creators command 51% of attention versus 39% for traditional media, and a typology of creator types—commentary, investigation, explanation, specialist—illustrates the diverse content shaping youth news diets. Notable examples include TikTok’s dominance in Thailand, YouTube’s primacy in India, and creators like Hugo Travers (France) and Johnny Harris offering simplified explanations. AI chatbots are also emerging, with 15% of 18‑24‑year‑olds using them weekly to navigate and clarify news, a stark contrast to 3% of older adults. The implications are clear: newsrooms must pivot to social‑first distribution, collaborate with influential creators, invest in video and audio storytelling, and leverage AI tools to meet young audiences’ demand for accessible, engaging news content.

Original Description

Published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, the Understanding Young News Audiences at a Time of Rapid Change report explores how people aged 18-24 are discovering and engaging with news, and what this means for journalism today.

Watch this Reuters webinar on-demand as we unpack the report’s key findings and examine how social, video and creator-led formats are reshaping the relationship between news and young audiences.

The session is hosted by Mitali Mukherjee, Director of the Reuters Institute, with Amy Ross Arguedas, Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute, presenting the report’s key insights.

A panel discussion follows, featuring Tristan Werkmeister, Social Media Video Reporter at Reuters, alongside Brian Hioe, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of New Bloom, Muhammad Adnan Butt, CEO of Dot Republic Media, and Christian Esguerra, Founder and Host of the Facts First with Christian Esguerra podcast.

Find the full report here: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/understanding-young-news-audiences-time-rapid-change