Methodology
Why we Chose These Countries
As we did in the original Next Gen News, we set out to study next gen news consumers. We combined large-scale quantitative research to better compare next gen audiences with older ones, paired it with in-depth qualitative diary studies, and compared it with strategies from emerging news producers.
We conducted research across five continents. We revisited the original three countries from Next Gen News: India, Nigeria and the United States; and added two more: Brazil and the United Kingdom. We selected these locations based on several demographic considerations and their importance in shaping global news consumption through 2030.
Brazil
Brazil is the largest country in South America by area and population, with more than 200 million people. It has a robust media ecosystem with active digital audiences across socioeconomic groups. Brazil's traditional news ecosystem reflects the societal political polarization. It also has a fast-growing cohort of independent, digitalnative news producers.
India
India is the world's most populous country with about 1.5 billion people. Its workingage population may be larger than that of any significant economy, and it is set to grow significantly. It is a country at the forefront of the digital revolution. With its youngest demographic having leapfrogged directly into a mobile-only reality, it has distinct expectations for news distribution, particularly at a time of limited press freedom.
Nigeria
Nigeria has an informed, empowered and techliterate demographic, with around 70% of the population under the age of 30. By 2050, it is projected to become the seventh-youngest population in the world and overtake the United States as the third-most populous country, indicating that its political and economic decisions will have wider global ramifications. Although emigration is high due to the quality of education and disillusionment with the country's political leadership, its growing middle class is expected to wield greater influence. This is likely to fuel demand for a robust and healthy news ecosystem.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has a historically mature traditional news ecosystem with a long history of national public journalism and a variety of forprofit media organizations at the national and local levels. Like much of Europe, news consumers in the United Kingdom have been wrestling with significant societal and political upheaval over the last decade.
United States
Although media research often places the United States at the forefront due to its rapid adoption of new technologies, it is a worthwhile counterpoint to Brazil, Nigeria, and India, given demographic shifts projected between now and 2030. The proportion of underrepresented racial groups is expected to increase significantly, and the nonHispanic white population is predicted to make up less than half of all Americans by 2050. This makes it more important to expand coverage to address the information needs of historically underserved communities. This diversity is particularly pronounced among Gen Z, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the population today.
Consumer research
We worked with YouGov to conduct an extensive survey of news consumers in Brazil, India, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States. The survey comprised 21 major questions plus follow-ups, gathering information on news and information consumption behavior, attitudes and beliefs. YouGov recruited 1,000 respondents in each country. While the focus of the Next Gen News project is on younger audiences, the survey pool ranged in age from 18 to 101, allowing us to compare younger and older audiences.
In addition to the survey, we conducted diary studies with 84 participants in the same five countries: Brazil, India, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Diary studies are a qualitative research method in which respondents document their activity and reflections over a period of time; in this case, the study lasted about 10 days. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 28 and lived in diverse areas of each country, varying in lifestage, socioeconomic background, education level, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, political position and accessibility level. Our design was broken into four separate activities, each combining classic open- and closed-ended survey questions with multimedia responses (e.g., image uploads, screenshots, recordings, selfie-style videos).
- Introductory survey: Participants filled out a media-rich survey telling us their opinions and habits and the state of news consumption today
- Inventory of trusted sources: Participants completed multiple surveys, each providing indepth information about one of their primary news sources as defined by the consumer.
- Daily diary: For five days, participants submitted daily entries about the highs and lows of news consumption that day, and they showed us a specific news story that stood out to them.
- Reflection: Participants gave their final thoughts and recommendations for news producers
The resulting data consisted of 258 examples of trusted news sources and 417 individual news stories, which were then analyzed for common emotional and behavioral themes.
Producer research
To complement our broader audience research, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 19 emerging news producers operating across diverse formats, audiences and geographies.
We sought to capture a wide range of approaches to storytelling and audience engagement by selecting producers who differ along several key dimensions:
- Platform: Representation across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Substack, owned-andoperated websites and apps, WhatsApp, and podcasts, with a balance of producers focused on short-form and long-form content, and spanning video, audio and text.
- Type of creator: A mix of solo news producers, emerging news producers, traditional news organizations and technology companies.
- Audience mode: Inclusion of producers whose primary focus aligns with one of our six core audience modes: Scroll, Seek, Subscribe, Substantiate, Study and Sensemake.
- Geography: Coverage of news producers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, India, Nigeria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany.
- Gender: A balance across male, female and non-binary individuals.
Each interview lasted between one and two hours and was conducted online. Conversations explored how these producers founded and developed their media, the choices underpinning their formats and the strategies they use to engage younger audiences, as well as the distinctive qualities and secret ingredients they believe are behind their success.
We are deeply grateful to all the interviewees for generously sharing their time, experience and perspectives with us: