Amy Watson
Research expert covering news and publishing
News consumption worldwide - statistics & facts
News consumption habits and behaviors can be complex and differ according to a variety of factors. These range from age and ethnicity to political leaning and level of education, but some of these differences are more easily explained than others. For example, a person’s political affiliation may influence their trust in news media, or kind of content they prefer to read. Less clear-cut, however, is how a consumer’s geographical location can affect the way they get their news.
False information will remain a risk and is set to worsen as major political events, the rise of AI, and global conflicts unsettle the public, and platforms must attempt to monitor viral stories on sensitive topics and ensure false reproductions of legitimate news content are dealt with swiftly. Meanwhile, consumers can also be proactive in stemming the spread of content which distorts or misrepresents fact. This can be done by reporting content, making others aware of it, and challenging news outlet to reveal their sources when they fail to provide them.
Location and news consumption
Looking in particular at social media news engagement, behavior varies across countries. Data from a global study investigating social media news usage worldwide demonstrates this. We can see that Greek and Bulgarian adults were the most likely consumers in Europe to head to social networks for news, whereas British, German, and French audiences were the least inclined to do so. Social media news consumption was highest in Nigeria, and Nigerians cited news as one of the main reasons for using social networks. Usage will continue to grow in line with internet access, and, like in other markets, will increase as younger consumers begin to engage with news.Who is most likely to pay for news?
Willingness to pay for news is also different around the world. In Norway, the country with the highest share of people paying for online news, the percentage who do so amounts to under 40 percent, whereas in the UK and Japan the figure was around four times lower. Indeed, under 10 percent of UK adults paid for any kind of online news content in the last year as of 2023, showing little change since 2013 despite small yearly fluctuations. In Japan, despite a survey revealing that around two thirds of respondents consider newspapers to be trustworthy, this does not increase the likelihood to pay for content either in print form or online. Only a fraction of Japanese news consumers pay to access a newspaper’s website.The impact of false information
Mis- and disinformation in news is a global problem, and audiences around the world are susceptible to encountering it. Coming across poorly researched, deliberately misleading, and biased information is one of the many factors which negatively impact trust. A survey investigating trust in the media showed that less than 50 percent of consumers in half the countries in the study felt the media could be trusted, with British, Argentinian, and Japanese respondents particularly skeptical. In 2024, as elections take place in more than 60 countries worldwide, news organizations and social media platforms will need to crack down on false information to earn and retain consumer trust.False information will remain a risk and is set to worsen as major political events, the rise of AI, and global conflicts unsettle the public, and platforms must attempt to monitor viral stories on sensitive topics and ensure false reproductions of legitimate news content are dealt with swiftly. Meanwhile, consumers can also be proactive in stemming the spread of content which distorts or misrepresents fact. This can be done by reporting content, making others aware of it, and challenging news outlet to reveal their sources when they fail to provide them.
