NEW MEDIA INSIGHTS FOR LOCAL ADVERTISERS Digital News Is Having Its Day Much like e-commerce’s rapid acceleration during the 5 major news platforms were quite low compared to the other pandemic, digital news is experiencing a surge of interest countries. as more people want more news and quicker access than traditional media news channels. The 2020 elections and its Findings from the US portion of the survey should be of great “interesting” ebb and flow is also boosting digital news. importance to local TV stations. Local television news was second in weekly use more than 3 days/week at 28% among The newly released Digital News Report 2020 from traditional media (TV, radio and print), but local television Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is an in-depth news online sites were 7th at 14% among digital platforms. investigation of digital news in countries across the globe, including the US. It was during 2018 when more people used their smartphone to access digital news platforms than their use Somewhat surprising, the April 2020 portion of the survey of of desktop computers and tablets. According to the study, 6 countries (US, UK, Germany, Spain, Argentina and South smartphone use was 58% during April 2020, desktop 50% Korea) found the percentages of US participants who used and tablet 20%. Continues on page 2 Share of Survey Participants’ Use of Various Platforms To Access News*, April 2020 ONLINE/ PRINT/ COUNTRY TV SOCIAL MEDIA RADIO SOCIAL MEDIA MAGAZINES US 73% 60% 47% 21% 16% UK 79% 71% 47% 35% 18% Germany 69% 72% 39% 41% 26% Spain 83% 71% 63% 24% 28% South Korea 85% 65% 51% 14% 19% Argentina 90% 77% 78% 24% 30% Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, June 2020 *during past week Top 7 News Brands in Traditional and Digital Media by Weekly Usage*, April 2020 TRADITIONAL MEDIA PERCENT DIGITAL MEDIA PERCENT Fox News 29% CNN.com 20% Local television news 28% Yahoo! News 20% CNN 24% The New York Times online 18% NBC/MSNBC News 24% Fox News online 18% CBS News 23% HuffPost 16% ABC News 22% The Washington Post online 15% Regional or local newspaper 18% Local television news online sites 14% Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, June 2020 *more than 3 days/week Continued from page 1 Trust in news sources has become a major issue as many sources are extremely polarized politically, left or right, and the increasing concern about fake news, especially on social media. The good news for local television news is 60% of the Americans participating in the Reuter Institute study said they trusted it the most, with BBC News second (56%) and The Wall Street Journal third (52%). At the other end of the trust spectrum, BuzzFeed News was least trusted (33%), Yahoo! News next at 36% and HuffPost third (40%). The study also revealed Americans trusted the news in social media the least at 14%, compared to other types of trust in news: news overall 29%, news I use 45% and news in search 22%. Compared to other countries in the overall study, the 29% in the US for overall trust in news is half of the top country, Finland at 56%. Despite the significant polarization of news from many sources and the many Americans attracted to those poles, 60% said they prefer to obtain news from sources with no point of view (relatively speaking). Almost a third (30%) want News sources’ use of subscription models is another news from a source that shares their point of view and only trend affecting the advancement of digital news. US news 10% want the news source to challenge their point of view. consumers lead in their willingness to pay for access to digital news platforms, at 20% of survey participants, and Trust in the news is directly related to the digital platforms its increased 4 percentage points during the past year, and news consumers are most concerned publish false and 9 points from 2013. The average for 9 selected countries is misleading information; and Facebook is cited significantly 13%, increasing just 3 points from 2013. in 6 of the surveyed countries. News Consumers’ Most Concerning Platforms for False and Misleading Information in Selected Countries, April 2020 COUNTRY FACEBOOK YOUTUBE TWITTER WHATSAPP US 35% 5% 7% 7% Philippines 47% 6% 2% 15% South Korea 10% 31% 4% 7% Japan 6% 12% 32% 9% Kenya 29% 4% 7% 25% Brazil 24% 7% 3% 35% Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, June 2020 Sources: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism Website, 7/20. Prepared: July 2020.