Overview
This year’s report reveals new insights about digital news consumption based on a YouGov survey of over 75,000 online news consumers in 38 countries including South Africa for the first time.
The report focuses on the progress on new paid online business models, trust and misinformation, the impact of populism, the shift to private messaging apps, and the rise of podcasts.
Explore the Report
Key findings
Private messaging and groups
Private messaging apps and Facebook groups are becoming a more important way to share discuss news. WhatsApp is being used heavily for news in countries like Brazil (53%) and South Africa (49%), making these countries potentially more vulnerable to the spread of misinformation.
Read more about Groups and Private Networks
Paying for news
16% now pay for online news in the United States, 27% (+1pp) in Sweden and 34% (+4pp) in Norway but these countries remain the exception. More publishers are putting up paywalls but most consumers remain reluctant to pay
Read more on News Payment and the Limits of Subscription?
Impact of populism on media
Our report finds that the highest levels of populism are in Eastern and Southern Europe, but how is the phenomenon affecting media use?
Read more about populism and explore its effect on media systems
Rise of podcasts
More than a third of our combined sample (36%) say they have consumed at least one podcast over the last month but this rises to half (50%) for those under 35. The mobile phone is the most used device (55%) for podcast listening. We explore the demographics and motivations for use
Read more about who is listening to podcasts and why …
Interactive
Explore the data behind the report
Explore the 2019 data and build your own charts. Compare dimensions and data types between or within countries
Previous Reports
This report find that the of social media for news has started to fall in a number of key markets after years of continuous growth.
This report casts new light on prevailing narratives about trust, fake news, failing business models and the power of platforms.
This year’s data shows a unprecedented levels of disruption to business models and growing consumer rejection of online advertising.
This year’s data shows a quickening of the pace towards social and mobile news along with a rise in online video consumption
The use of smartphones and tablets has jumped significantly in the past year, with fewer people using their computers for news
Those paying for online news doubles in many countries – albeit from a low base
UK shows the most interest in celebrity news, least interest in political news
Supporters
Country reports in national languages:
- AUSTRALIA: News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra
- AUSTRIA: Department of Communication Science, University of Salzburg
- BELGIUM: SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
- CANADA: Centre d’études sur les médias
- DENMARK: Centre for News Research, Roskilde University (PDF)
- FINLAND: Tampere Research Centre for Journalism Media and Communication (PDF)
- GERMANY: Leibniz Institute for Media Research, Hamburg University
- IRELAND: Institute for Future Media and Journalism
- NETHERLANDS: Commissariaat voor de Media
- NORWAY: University in Bergen (PDF)
- PORTUGAL: Observatório da Comunicação (PDF)
- SPAIN: Center for Internet Studies and Digital Life, Universidad de Navarra