The distribution of news in the internet era has never quite been so fractured.
Between competing outlets, platforms, and formats, Americans can get their news from anywhere between a TikTok video to a station newspaper.
This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu, shows the percentage of Americans who use various news sources on a weekly basis.
More than 2,000 nationally representative Americans were surveyed in a 2024 YouGov survey commissioned by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Local TV News Still Has a Foothold in America
When it comes to traditional mediums (TV, radio, and print), local TV stations are still the most frequently used by Americans (28%). Fox News (27%) comes in at a close second.
Multiple choices allowed. Responses do not sum to 100.
Meanwhile, CNN ranks as the third most popular choice (23%) with ABC and CBS News (both 20%) rounding out the top five.
As a whole, TV stations fill out the top six spots with local newspapers coming in 7th (14%). The New York Times (13%) and USA Today (12%) are the only named newspaper outlets to have double-digit responses.
Fox News and CNN Battle For Online Audience
However, in the digital realm, Fox News online (18%) just about takes the crown with a 1 percentage point lead over CNN.com (17%).
Multiple choices allowed. Responses do not sum to 100.
Local TV news websites and Yahoo! News tie for third place (16%). Both NYT and USA Today’s online editions perform better than their print counterparts.
In fact, the Times has been seeing declining print subscriptions for the last two years, even as online-only subscribers grow. A core component of drawing more online patrons is through bundling its many services. Games like Wordle are used as a funnel to grow digital subscriptions.
If you liked this article, check out Ranked: The World’s Most Popular Apps by Downloads for a quick overview of where people are spending their time online.
