Audience Landscape
To ground NGN2's insights in a shared baseline, we mapped the audience landscape using a 21-question survey of 5,000 respondents aged 18-101 (1,000 each from Brazil, India, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States). We conducted an in-depth, two-week diary study with more than 80 young adults in the same countries who were asked to document their daily media usage.
A clear tension emerged: next gen audiences regularly encounter news and even seek it out, but still feel overwhelmed by its constant presence. Nearly 54% of young people across the surveyed countries agreed that "keeping up with the news should not take up very much time." To counter the flood of information, they employ a range of strategies, including taking breaks, deleting apps and turning off notifications. But when they encounter information that they care about, they engage. More than 65% responded that "when a topic interests [them], [they] prefer an in-depth story to a summary."
We observed a broader shift, as next gen consumers’ habits are shaped by both an abundance of news and the fragmentation of the news ecosystem. There are early signs that artificial intelligence is a subtle but growing force in news discovery and comprehension. For some, AI is complicating the search for truth and relevance; for others, it's a key tool for complementary news research.
Finally, when comparing news consumers across countries, there are important differences in perceptions of news and its health.
Younger audiences are not disengaged from news, but balance regular use with selective avoidance
Despite persistent perceptions that young people avoid or ignore news, our survey finds substantial engagement from next gen news consumers: across all five countries, 55% of respondents younger than 25 engage with news at least daily. In Brazil, the share for that age group was 63%. Among respondents aged 25 and older, the share of daily news consumers was approximately 75% in all countries except the United States, where it was just more than 68%.
Compared to survey respondents of other ages, next gen news consumers do not stand out for how often they avoid news. In Brazil, India, and the United Kingdom, we observed a distinctly lower share of young people generally avoiding news "often" or "sometimes" compared to older cohorts in the same country.
Social platforms dominate news discovery for younger audiences, while broadcast remains central for older ones
The primary source of news differs across age groups but not across locations. For next gen audiences and a larger share of middle-aged news consumers, social media is the most frequent source of news discovery. Older audiences turn to broadcast media. For our youngest and middle-aged audience members, search engines and video platforms are nearly as widely-used as social media.
Perceptions of whether news is "better" or "worse" than the past vary sharply by country, not by age alone
When next gen diary study participants were asked whether the news media are better or worse than they were 30 years ago, we observed significant differences across countries. More than half of the respondents selected "much better off" or "somewhat better off." In India and Brazil, 70% or more answered somewhat or much better off. Of those, most answered "much better off." This stands in sharp contrast to United States and United Kingdom respondents, among whom fewer than 15% chose much better off, and around half chose somewhat or much worse off. Nigerian respondents were in between but still mostly positive.
When asked why they answered as they did, respondents, regardless of their choice, widely cited the increase in available sources. The increased number and diversity of sources were positive in some cases — providing greater access to different points of view — but negative in others — making it more difficult to trust these news sources.
…News is much more accessible and diverse now than it was 30 years ago. With the internet and social media, we can get real-time updates from different perspectives all over the world. There is more accountability as mistakes get called out faster and there is more pressure to be transparent.
Information is much more accessible than 30 years ago but with that comes a set of 'problems'/difficulties such as fake news and the manipulation of news for bad intentions. Another difficulty is that perhaps education hasnʼt fully adapted to the new technologies making a generation that sometimes struggles to identify what news are real and which are not.
Additionally, regardless of their value judgments, respondents frequently cited concerns about misinformation, negativity and bias.
I find media now really oversells a story or makes it 10x more dramatic in order to keep attention. The media has always been one for fear mongering but I find it is more prevalent now.
I feel there is always an agenda being pushed, and the language used is cleverly done so [as] to sow fear and confusion in the average person.
Rising role of generative AI, but use and acceptance vary widely
Artificial intelligence was not a significant factor in the original Next Gen News research. Today it is clear that AI is already a core part of some news consumer's habits and certain to increase in prominence and importance over the next five years.
Openness to AI
One notable pattern in our survey was the consistently more positive responses about AI among Nigerian respondents. Participants from the United States and United Kingdom were notably more skeptical.
We asked survey respondents, "How often do you get news from these sources," with a list of 16 sources, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity). Just more than 33% of all Nigerian respondents — the largest share — told us they often receive news from AI programs. For Nigerians younger than 25 years old, the share was nearly 40%. In contrast, fewer than 5% of United States and United Kingdom respondents reported often getting news from AI programs.
When audiences use AI for news, they treat it as a support for understanding — not a trusted authority
Some of the diary study participants reported making AI a part of their more active news consumption, using AI chat tools to learn more about a subject or assist in their learning about a new topic.
Usually I start off with a simple Google search and gain a little bit of an insight about things then if I still wanna continue to understand it further I go to ChatGPT or an AI assistant as they can help you with my query very efficiently however I do doublecheck what they tell me as sometimes they can get things wrong.
Every single time I go [to] ChatGPT or Copilot to inform me about a new situation in the world, I find I have to fact check it. … I will literally just go online and just go do my own research instead of just believing people online because sometimes they just not even been telling the truth most of the time.
Some younger users are more willing to ask AI about news than people, but this comfort is not universal.
Generally, younger news consumers believe AI can help them understand news. It was seen as especially helpful in offering overviews and helping them understand news events.
A similarly broad gap can be seen in responses to the statement, "I feel more comfortable asking questions about news to an AI tool than a person." Nearly half of Nigerian respondents younger than 25 agree or strongly agree with the statement. In contrast, fewer than a fifth of United Kingdom respondents feel more comfortable asking AI, and the share was even smaller in the United States.
Even as AI enters news workflows, audiences consistently prefer news created by humans
Even young news consumers expressed a clear preference for human-created news. A majority of respondents across all age groups and countries agree or strongly agree with the statement, "I value human-created news more than AI-generated news content." Here too, respondents from the United States and the United Kingdom expressed markedly greater resistance to AI than those from the other countries we surveyed.