Harris Interactive recently conducted a poll of over 2,000 participants that indicated that television is still the king when it comes to news consumption trends.
While social media and the Internet has come on strong over the past 15 years or so, television remains the preferred source of news and information for most Americans.
According to Harris, which conducted the poll in August of this year, 50 percent of participants said they prefer to receive their news via the television. Online took second place with 36 percent of participants saying that’s where they like to get their news. And print media took third place with only 10 percent saying that’s where they want to get their news.
Still, Harris reported that 69 percent of participants had a “moderate interest” in the news. About 18 percent said following the news is something that doesn’t really interest them as something they do with their free time. While 13 percent described themselves as “news junkies.”
Men are two times more likely than women to describe themselves as “news junkies.”
For those of us who do call ourselves news junkies, here’s a rather bothersome sign for the future. Harris said that younger adults are more likely to say they have a lack of interest in following the news at all. About 31 percent of “echo boomers” or millennials said they’re not interested in following the news. Gen Xers came in at 23 percent of those saying they don’t follow the news. Baby boomers came in at 10 percent, which means 90 percent of boomers surveyed said they do care about the news.
Whether you’re a news junkie or not, it seems online is fast becoming the preferred medium of choice. While TV edges out online media for those who are actively interested in the news, online news consumption habits among news junkies and those less interested is about even – 42 and 43 percent respectively.
Experts say that as we age, we become more interested in news and information, so according to that there is hope that today’s less interested millennials will someday become more plugged in to the news. If that is the case, it’s good news for online. Most millennials get their information online (55 percent from the Internet; 34 percent from TV).
Taking a page from print media, a catchy headline is still the main attraction to a story online. 54 percent of participants said a good headline is the top reason they’d read an online or print article in full. The use of photos and data or research graphics also help.
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