Publishers lose news audiences to platforms despite video boom
A major new study shows audiences are abandoning publisher websites for social platforms, threatening the commercial viability of traditional media companies.
Social media and video platforms have overtaken television and publisher websites as the primary source of news globally, according to the Reuters Digital News Report 2026. The shift carries severe implications for the media industry's business models, as audiences increasingly bypass direct access points.
Publishers with their own video content are failing to profit from the format's boom because they are losing reach. While 75% of respondents consume news videos weekly, they are doing so on platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram rather than on news sites. Globally, 34% of respondents use YouTube for news, while 20% use TikTok.
"Despite the evident popularity of video as a format, audiences are not responding positively to on-site video," said Jim Egan, the report's lead author. This missed opportunity is particularly stark given changing consumption habits. Roughly 20% of respondents regularly watch news videos exceeding 20 minutes, and a quarter of those surveyed globally watch platform news on their televisions.
The migration away from traditional formats is accelerating. In the US, more than a third of respondents under 25 have never regularly watched TV news or visited a news website. "They're not only leaving," Egan said, "they're not even starting."
As audiences move, trust is deteriorating. The survey of 100,000 people across 48 countries found trust in news fell by at least three percentage points in 29 countries, leaving global trust at just 37%. "There's an irony here that people are moving more and more to platforms that they trust less," Egan warned. "Data shouldn't move that much in a year."
Additional competitive threats are emerging on the horizon. The use of AI chatbots for news grew from 7% to 10% globally last year. "Trust in AI chatbots and news from them," he added, "is very low at the moment, but that's not going to last forever." News influencers also remain a niche market, with only 10% of users relying on them for all their news needs.
Despite the profound disruptions to traditional distribution, Egan stressed that journalism itself retains its fundamental value. "Journalism still matters — in fact, in many ways it matters more than ever," he said. The immediate challenge for the industry is finding viable commercial paths to reach an audience that has moved elsewhere.
