2026 Digital News Report Finds Americans Shifting From TV and Search to Online Video
Americans are continuing to move away from television news and toward online and social platforms, according to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s 2026 Digital News Report, released July 6, 2026.
The report describes a continuing multiyear decline in television-news consumption in the United States. At the same time, online and social-media news use increased slightly from the previous year, extending a broader shift in how people encounter news.
The changes matter not only to audiences but also to the organizations that produce journalism. As attention moves across platforms, news companies face changes in reach, traffic, revenue and the ways they distribute reporting.
Search traffic falls sharply
One of the report’s clearest U.S. figures concerns traffic from Google. Citing Chartbeat data covering more than 2,500 sites, the report says Google organic traffic to U.S. news sites fell 38% between November 2024 and November 2025.
That figure measures traffic arriving through unpaid search results. It does not establish that a single factor caused the decline, and it does not mean every U.S. news organization experienced the same change. But it illustrates the vulnerability of publishers that rely on large technology platforms to bring readers to their sites.
For readers, the shift can change where news appears first and how easily a report can be found. Stories may reach audiences through video feeds, social recommendations or individual creators rather than through a direct visit to a news website or a search for a specific article.
Video becomes a larger gateway to news
The report says online news video has overtaken television news in most markets included in the study. Its U.S. findings also point to the increased importance of online and social video as audiences spend more time with news delivered through digital platforms.
That development does not mean television news has become irrelevant to all Americans. Instead, it marks a change in the balance among the different channels people use to learn about current events. Television remains part of the news environment, while online video and social platforms continue to gain importance.
YouTube, Instagram and TikTok are among the platforms identified in the report’s discussion of the changing distribution environment. Their role gives news organizations additional ways to reach audiences, but it also places more of the relationship between publishers and readers in systems controlled by technology companies.
The movement toward creator-led and platform video may also affect how people encounter reporting. Audiences can receive news through short clips, platform recommendations or personalities who interpret events for their followers. The report documents the distribution shift; it does not equate increased online video use with greater public trust or better accuracy.
Business pressure continues
The Reuters Institute identifies platform distribution and changing business models as continuing pressures on U.S. journalism. It also points to reduced philanthropic support as another challenge for the industry.
Those pressures are connected to the audience changes described in the report. A decline in search referrals can make it harder for publishers to attract readers to their own websites. Growth on social or video platforms can expand reach, but it may also leave organizations dependent on rules, recommendation systems and audience behavior they do not control.
The report does not provide a single national dollar estimate for the financial effect of the traffic change. Its broader warning is about the combined impact of shifting audience habits, platform dependence and uncertainty over how journalism will be financed.
What to watch next
The report highlights the future U.S. effect of the sale of TikTok to a U.S.-led consortium as a development to watch. Any change in the platform’s ownership or operating environment could affect how news and video circulate among American users.
That question comes as publishers and journalists adjust to a media landscape in which search is no longer the only major digital gateway and television is no longer the dominant route in every market covered by the study. The report’s U.S. findings show that the transition is continuing: television use is declining, online and social consumption is edging upward, and search referrals to thousands of sites have dropped sharply.
For news organizations, the next stage will involve deciding how much effort and money to devote to websites, search, social feeds, online video and direct relationships with audiences. For the public, the practical change is that finding and following news increasingly depends on the platforms and formats where people spend their time.
Sources
- Digital News Report 2026: United States, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
- Overview and key findings of the 2026 Digital News Report, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
- Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2026, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
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