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illustration: DALL-EIn the extensive report "Understanding Young News Audiences at a Time of Rapid Change", published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, authors Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Mitali Mukherjee, and Richard Fletcher describe profound changes in the habits of this group. The new generation treats news as an element of entertainment on a smartphone.
Young internet users feel a strong need to engage with simple and fully understandable language. When an average young person tries for the first time to grasp a complex geopolitical problem without historical context, they quickly give up on following the topic further.
For example, intricate discussions about macroeconomic reforms effectively repel the new generation because they do not see any reference points to their own lives. Contemporary journalists must change the way they present facts to effectively reach a generation that grew up among rapid visual communications with their message.
From websites to social media
Researchers Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Mitali Mukherjee, and Richard Fletcher note in the publication "Understanding Young News Audiences at a Time of Rapid Change" that the revolution is not about giving up television. Young people abandoned traditional TV sets many years ago, and the current process concerns a retreat from news portals. Today`s twenty-somethings rarely type newsroom addresses into browser windows. Instead, they seek knowledge about the world on social media platforms.
- In 2015, young audiences treated websites as their primary source of knowledge at a level of 36 percent.
- In 2025, the same popularity indicator for publishers` websites dropped to 24 percent.
- Social media recorded an increase from 21 percent in 2015 to as much as 39 percent currently.
- Only 64 percent of young consumers declare daily contact with the news.
Such a change in behavior means that the new generation consumes news mainly accidentally, while browsing other content. When a user scrolls through an app looking for funny videos, the algorithm slides in a short news report from the world. This model means that young citizens rarely show an intentional desire to read long analyses. They prefer dynamic visual materials that combine the seriousness of the message with elements of humor.
| Source of information | Share in 2015 | Share in 2025 |
| Social media | 21% | 39% |
| Newspaper websites | 36% | 24% |
| Traditional television | 28% | 21% |
Publishers recognize this trend and are introducing vertical video materials into their apps to fit smartphone screens. This format allows for quick reporting of events using simple captions and dynamic editing. A young viewer eagerly chooses apps like TikTok or Instagram because these tools offer closeness to the host. A text article loses in this battle if the author omits a graphic form.
Online creators are winning the trust of young viewers
The authors of the study "Understanding Young News Audiences at a Time of Rapid Change", who include Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Mitali Mukherjee, and Richard Fletcher, demonstrate the growing influence of independent influencers. Young people prefer listening to specific individuals over big media brands, which they associate with a rigid tone. Online creators build a strong bond with their community through regular live streams, answering questions, and showing behind-the-scenes looks at their work.
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French online journalist Hugo Travers expanded his student project into a powerful media outlet that explains complex political phenomena to his peers in Europe daily. Dylan Page chose a similar path in the United Kingdom, gaining a multi-million audience thanks to short commentaries on the TikTok platform. Such creators usually do not conduct their own investigations but cleverly package and reinterpret press reports. A young viewer appreciates a format that offers ready-made explanations without effort.
- More than half of young people, exactly 51 percent, pay attention to independent online creators.
- Traditional media brands attract the attention of only 39 percent of audiences of this age.
- Only 35 percent of young people show general interest in traditional news.
- The older generation over 55 declares high interest at a level of 52 percent.
The thematic interests of young people vary greatly depending on gender, which determines their choices online. Classic political topics occupy distant positions in the popularity ranking, giving way to entertainment news and lighter lifestyle content. Publishers must take these differences into account if they plan to create universal platforms. An individual approach and personalization of the content stream represent an opportunity to attract consumer attention.
| News topic | Young group (18-24) | Older group (55+) |
| Entertainment news | High | Low |
| Politics and economy | Low | High |
| Mental health (women) | Very high | Medium |
| Science and technology (men) | Very high | Medium |
The indicated differences show that the new generation looks for practical advice in the news to facilitate daily life. The subject of mental health or technological innovations touches them directly, in contrast to abstract party disputes. Traditional newsrooms, where the majority of employees are older journalists, often ignore these needs, which deepens the alienation of youth. Changing the thematic base therefore becomes a necessary step toward modern journalism.
Artificial intelligence helps understand a complex world
The aforementioned report titled "Understanding Young News Audiences at a Time of Rapid Change", prepared by Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Mitali Mukherjee, and Richard Fletcher, reveals the openness of youth to modern technologies. The generation of twenty-somethings integrates artificial intelligence algorithms into their lives without fear. They use chatbots to summarize long articles, translate jargon, and quickly extract the most important facts from multi-page documents.
Young people treat artificial intelligence as an assistant that saves their valuable time and daily effort. If they encounter a complicated text about the tax system, they ask the bot to prepare a simplified version using communicative language. Examples of implementations in Scandinavian media show that automatic summaries created by algorithms attract readers. Publishers implementing such solutions note better engagement rates among the youngest group.
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Despite their fascination with technology, young users remain rational in crisis moments when they need certainty about facts. In the event of suspected online disinformation, youth still trust proven media brands and official sources. In parallel, they use a peer-to-peer verification method, consulting troubling reports with friends in closed groups. This shows that technology does not destroy the need for reliability, but rather changes everyday control tools.
The future of journalism requires profound changes
Craig T. Robertson, Amy Ross Arguedas, Mitali Mukherjee, and Richard Fletcher emphasize in their report titled "Understanding Young News Audiences at a Time of Rapid Change" that publishers face a historic challenge. The strategy of simply moving printed texts to the internet has stopped working for young audiences. Modern newsrooms must build teams consisting of young journalists who naturally understand the aesthetics and language of social media platforms.
A good example of an innovative initiative is the Dutch project SPILNEWS, where young reporters create content for peers and talk to them via the WhatsApp messenger. Another successful venture is the Australian project The Daily Aus, which gained popularity on Instagram. The creators of this format abandoned complicated industry language in favor of concise, visually attractive nuggets of knowledge, building a collaborative relationship with the viewer.
Understanding the needs of the young generation determines the long-term stability of the entire media sector. Traditional publishing houses must accept the fact that news stream personalization and a variety of formats represent a standard today, not a luxury add-on. Newsrooms should experiment with a new tone of voice and advanced technologies while maintaining ethical standards. Only through flexibility will traditional journalism defend its position in a world dominated by algorithms.
The full report "Understanding Young News Audiences at a Time of Rapid Change" is available at: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/understanding-young-news-audiences-time-rapid-change
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