Reuters Institute report shows social media overtaking news websites

Research from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford indicates a structural shift in how audiences consume news. For the first time, social media and video platforms (54%) have surpassed news websites and applications (51%) as primary information sources across 48 surveyed markets.

This trend is heavily driven by younger demographics, with 52% of individuals aged 18 to 24 relying on social media, video, or AI chatbots for news. Traditional news sites have seen a 12 percentage point drop in global usage since 2020. Additionally, organic search traffic from Google to analyzed news sites fell by 33% between November 2024 and November 2025, with industry experts predicting search traffic could be halved within three years.

Video consumption has become a dominant force, with 77% of respondents consuming news via video weekly. However, this consumption is increasingly occurring on third-party platforms rather than media-owned sites. Major platforms used for news include YouTube (34%), Instagram (26%), and TikTok (20%). This shift reflects a broader decline in trust toward traditional corporate journalism and a move toward distributed networks of independent creators and digital-native content.