News Audience Demographics

How do different social networking websites stack up when it comes to news? How many people engage with news across multiple social sites? And what are their news consumption habits on traditional platforms?

Fusion’s launch reflects several demographic trends among the nation’s 53 million Hispanics, which make up 17% of all Americans.

Faced with shrinking revenue and dwindling audiences, news organizations in recent years have slashed staffs and reduced coverage. Most news consumers are little aware of the financial struggles that led to these cuts, a new Pew Research Center survey finds. Nevertheless, a significant percentage of them not only have noticed a difference in the quantity or quality of news, but have stopped reading, watching or listening to a news source because of it.

Younger Americans demonstrate much stronger news habits in the mobile realm than on other news platforms, according to a new study by PEJ in collaboration with The Economist Group. Another finding, with potentially significant implications for the news industry, reveals that younger users are more responsive than other age groups to advertisements in the mobile news space. What other demographics affect mobile news habits?

Spanish-language media is an important tool for a U.S. Hispanic population that is increasingly bilingual and American-born. Is the Hispanic newspaper market experiencing the same issues as English-language papers? Why are networks like Univision growing so rapidly? Is radio still a dominant force in Spanish-language media? PEJ answers these and other questions in a new examination of the Hispanic Media landscape.

A study of more than 34,000 news stories that appeared in major media outlets finds that most of what the public learns about Hispanics comes not through focused coverage of the life and times of this population group but through event-driven news stories in which Hispanics are one of many elements.

While much of US news media endured shrinking audiences recently, ethnic media have seen growth. In our seventh roundtable discussion, industry analysts assess the growing clout of ethnic news outlets in the US as well as the formidable business challenges they face, including slowing industry growth.