Social media has become a large part of billions of lives around the globe. It is also now the preferred method for news consumption, new data shows.
The 2025 Digital News Report from Oxford’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism revealed that 54% of respondents said that they utilize social media apps to consume news. That — for the first time — topped television, which 50% of those surveyed said they used for news. In 2013, 72% of those surveyed said they used television for news purposes. Also in 2013, only 27% said social media was an avenue they used for news.
48% said they use online news websites for their news consumption. That represents a dramatic drop since the 2013 survey showed that 69% used news websites.
News podcasts (15%) topped AM/FM radio (13%), while print news dropped to 14%, down from 47% in 2013.
Additionally, those using AI for news hit the charts for the first time. 7% of respondents said they had utilized AI to gather news in 2025.
The study also broke down which social media apps were most used for news consumption. Six separate apps saw double-digit usage rates, up from only two we saw a decade ago. Facebook is still the top app for news at 26%, while YouTube was close behind at 21%. Instagram has risen from 3% in 2015 to 16% in 2025. Meanwhile, WhatsApp (15%), X (11%), and TikTok (10%) also reached double-digit usage rates.
One of the biggest takeaways from the study was that an overwhelming majority of audiences have no interest in paying for online news.
“Over the last ten years, ongoing subscription levels across our basket of 20 countries have more than doubled but they now look to have hit a ceiling,” the study says. “Publishers have already signed up many of those prepared to pay and in a tight economic climate it has been hard to persuade others to do the same. In most countries, we continue to see a “winner takes most” market, with upmarket national newspapers scooping up a big proportion of users. In the United States, for example, The New York Times has extended its lead over The Washington Post partly off the back of its highly successful all-access subscription that includes games, recipes, audio sport, and product reviews.”
Only 20% of U.S. respondents said they had paid for any online news in the past year. Meanwhile, 77% said they would not consider paying for news online in any capacity.
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