News consumption habits are changing. Year-over-year data shows that people are turning away from cable networks and instead turning to digital news.
Fox saw a 20% decline in viewership overall — although the news outlet still ranks No. 1 due to its amount of viewers. Meanwhile, CNN saw a 19% drop in viewership.
In the targeted demographic of adults aged 25-54, Fox lost 38% of its audience, and CNN is down 27%. MSNBC was the only major news network with an increase, gaining 2%.
If major cable networks like Fox and CNN lost roughly one-fifth of their total viewership and one-third of their younger audience, where are those viewers going to get their news and how reliable is it?
Digital news sources saw growth in 2023 while other mediums shrunk. Digital news sites like NewsBreak and Newsweek saw between 60% to 90% growth year-over-year.
According to Pew Research, 86% of Americans turn to their digital devices to stay informed. Two-thirds of Americans said they visit news websites or news apps, and half of Americans said they often or sometimes use social media as a news source.
Some social media outlets can make it difficult to get the full picture for a news piece. For instance, Facebook’s algorithm demotes posts that have news links attached.
According to Meta’s most recent 2023 Q3 statistics, 95% of post views did not include a link to a source outside Facebook. However, 5% of content did include a source link, which is up slightly from 3% in Q1.
Social media also has a complicated history of selective censorship of what content users are allowed to see.
Big Tech can pick and choose posts visible to its users under the current law known as Section 230. However, the law has been challenged by Texas and Florida after alleged suppression of content during the pandemic.
The Supreme Court is poised to potentially decide this summer if Big Tech violates free speech by utilizing algorithms.
Viewership typically slows during an off-election year, however, heading into a general election year, the decline in recent ratings also comes as the public faces high levels of news fatigue and concerns over if the media is accurately reporting the news.
