Pew: Younger Americans increasingly switching from TV to online for news

Television news has maintained its audience even as digital news gained ground and print audiences declined; however, it may not be safe anymore.

It looks like TV is losing out to the Internet when it comes to young Americans, the latest Pew Research Center report shows. Online and digital news across platforms is on the rise, as mobile devices and tablets become more commonplace, and social networking sites become a bigger platform upon which to share news.

Since 2010, the percentage of Americans saying they saw news or headlines on a social networking site has risen from 9 percent to 19 percent. For those under age 30, 33 percent report seeing news on a social networking site the previous day, while 34 percent said they saw any television news. Just 13 percent said they read a newspaper in either print or a digital format, according to Pew’s biennial news consumption survey, detailed in report “The Explosion in Mobile Audiences and a Close Look at what it Means for News,” released today.

Looking at individual cable news outlets, the study shows that CNN’s regular audience has declined since 2008, when 24 percent said they regularly watched the network. Today, that number is down to 16 percent. However, viewership for both Fox News and MSNBC has not changed much in recent years, with 21 percent saying they watch Fox News and 11 percent saying they watch MSNBC regularly.