Digital News Report 2026: How AI, Video and Creators Are Changing News

The Reuters Institute Digital News Report is a comprehensive study of digital news consumption, examining how people access, consume, and trust news across dozens of markets. Each year, the report provides valuable insights into changing audience behaviour, emerging technologies, and the challenges facing the news industry.

This article summarises the key findings from the 2026 Digital News Report, highlighting the most important trends shaping journalism today, including the rise of AI, the growth of video and news creators, declining use of traditional media, and attitudes towards impartial journalism and public service media. You can read the original report in full here.

Trust and Interest in News Continue to Decline

Interest in news continues to decline across the surveyed markets. Since 2021, the proportion of people who are very or extremely interested in the news has fallen by an average of 13 percentage points (from 59% to 46%), while the share of casual or passive news users has increased from 16% to 25%. Despite this, highly engaged news consumers remain loyal readers and are still the group most likely to pay for news.

Trust in news has also reached its lowest level since the Reuters Institute began measuring it in 2015, with only 37% of respondents saying they trust the news most of the time. Growing reliance on social media, video platforms, and AI for news -- sources that are generally trusted less than traditional media -- has contributed to this decline, alongside broader decreases in trust in public institutions. Political attacks and divisive elections also contribute to distrust towards journalism. However, trust is holding up for widely used individual news brands.

At the same time, concerns about misinformation continue to rise, with 62% of respondents worried about distinguishing real news from fake news online, even as many continue to rely on social platforms for news because of their convenience.

The report also finds growing dissatisfaction with how the media covers certain topics. Audience perception of how well news outlets are covering stories is closely associated with overall trust. Immigration stands out as the issue where audiences are most critical, with significantly more people believing that the news media does a poor job of covering the topic than a good one, even among people who generally trust the news. People who use social media as their main source of news also tend to have a more negative view of how well the news media covers these issues.

How People Use Generative AI for News

The use of generative AI tools has grown rapidly, with weekly usage increasing from 18% to 34% in just one year. Using AI chatbots specifically for news remains a niche but growing behaviour, with 10% of respondents globally reporting that they use them for this purpose. Adoption is highest in markets where platform-based news consumption is already common and among younger audiences, with 17% of 18–24-year-olds using AI for news compared to just 5% of the oldest age group. Users are also more likely to be highly interested in news and politically engaged. Despite this growth, only 1% of respondents identify AI as their main source of news, suggesting that chatbots currently complement rather than replace traditional news sources.

People primarily use AI chatbots to better understand the news rather than simply receive headlines. The most common use is asking follow-up questions about news stories (42%), followed by getting the latest news (35%), summarising articles (34%), checking the reliability of news sources (33%), and making complex news easier to understand (30%). Respondents also value AI for its speed, ease of use, ability to combine information from multiple sources, and translation capabilities.

The growing use of AI has also raised concerns that publishers could lose website traffic if users increasingly consume news directly through chatbots. To investigate this, the survey asked how often people click through to the original source after encountering news on different platforms. Only 4% reported always or often clicking through from an AI chatbot, compared with 19% from search engines and 17% from social media. The relatively low figure for AI is partly explained by its still limited use for news. Among respondents who actually use AI chatbots for news, 42% report clicking through to the original source. 

Motivations also differ: people using AI are more likely to click through to verify information or learn more about the original source, whereas search engine users are more commonly seeking additional detail. More information about AI's impact on publisher traffic can be found in our accompanying blog post.

Perceptions of AI-generated news are closely linked to both trust in news and experience with AI tools. People who already trust the news and regularly use AI tend to have greater confidence in chatbot outputs, while those with lower trust in news and little experience using AI are significantly more sceptical of the quality and reliability of AI-generated information.

Video Is Still on the Rise

Online news video consumption continues to grow, particularly on social media platforms. 2026 is, in fact, the first year when social media and video networks are the most widely used news sources globally (54%). Between 2023 and 2026, news video consumption increased most on TikTok (+7 percentage points) and Instagram (+5 percentage points), while use of publishers' own websites to watch videos declined by five percentage points. 

Countries with the highest news video usage tend to be those where social media is the primary source of news, whereas markets with strong newspaper traditions and public service media have relatively lower levels of news video consumption. Still, even in markets like Europe, around 50-60% consume online news videos weekly.

News video consumption also differs significantly by age. YouTube attracts a relatively even audience across age groups, but younger users dominate TikTok and Instagram. Almost four in ten people aged 18-24 use TikTok weekly for news videos, compared with only around one in ten people aged 55 or older. News on TikTok and Instagram is also largely encountered incidentally while users are on the platforms for other reasons, whereas YouTube is more often used intentionally to seek out news. 

The majority of news videos on TikTok are short-form videos that are under 2 minutes in length. On YouTube, however, over half of viewers watch news videos over 6 minutes long. Contrary to what one might assume, longer YouTube videos are also relatively more popular among young people than they are with people over 55. 

With the advent of Smart TVs, the way people watch TV has also evolved. A vast majority of younger generations (67-71%) use Smart TVs to watch news via streaming and video apps, whilst many older people still favour linear broadcast TV. 

News Creators Shape the Conversation

News creators are becoming an increasingly important part of the digital news ecosystem. More than a quarter (27%) of respondents across all surveyed markets reported getting news from creators each week. However, creators generally play a supplementary rather than a primary role in people's news consumption. Those who rely most heavily on creators are also more likely to use social media and video platforms as their main source of news.

The report identifies four distinct creator ecosystems. In politically polarised ecosystems, creators thrive in countries with low trust in traditional media, weak public service broadcasters, and high social media use. In the USA, many are former journalists or television presenters who have moved to online platforms with less regulation.  Audiences who rely primarily on creators are significantly more likely to trust them over mainstream media. These users are also more likely to identify with the political extremes, raising concerns that creators in these ecosystems may reinforce political polarisation and amplify misinformation.

In critical voice ecosystems, creators fill gaps left by restricted or government-controlled media by amplifying protestors and government critics. In countries such as Turkey, where much of the national media is controlled by the government, independent creators and former journalists have become important alternative sources of news and are often trusted more than mainstream outlets.

A third group, youthful changemakers, consists of creators who use short-form, social-first videos to explain news and politics in an accessible and engaging way. They are particularly popular among younger audiences, who often view them as more authentic, understandable, and trustworthy than traditional news organisations. These creators have been especially successful in countries where traditional media have struggled to connect with Gen Z audiences.

Finally, limited or hybrid creator ecosystems, common in Northern and Eastern Europe and Japan, have seen slower growth due to lower social media use, older populations, and continued trust in established news brands. In these markets, creators are often journalists extending their presence online rather than fully independent influencers, and audiences rely more on imported international creators than on domestic creator communities.

These ecosystems are not mutually exclusive, and many countries have elements of all four creator ecosystems. The creator ecosystems are also developing rapidly and continue to evolve in response to political and cultural change. 

The Decline of Traditional News Media

Traditional news media continue to lose audiences, with newspapers, radio, and television having seen double-digit percentage point falls since 2013. Television remains the most widely used traditional source, with 52% of respondents using it weekly, while 27% are former users and only 14% have never used it. Newspapers and radio have much smaller current audiences: only 14% still use newspapers and 21% use radio for news, while large shares of respondents have either stopped using them or never adopted them.

The report distinguishes between adoption (whether people have ever regularly used a news source) and retention (whether those users continue to use it). Television has achieved both high adoption (79%) and relatively strong retention (66%). In contrast, newspapers (49% adoption, 27% retention) and radio (53% adoption, 39% retention) suffer from both low adoption and poor retention. Their decline is therefore driven by a combination of failing to attract new audiences and losing existing ones, although radio has been somewhat more successful at retaining its audience. Television's challenge is different: most people have used TV news at some point, but many, particularly younger audiences, have stopped watching.

Age is a key factor behind these trends. Newspaper and radio adoption is substantially lower among 18–34-year-olds, while television's biggest weakness is retaining younger viewers. Although 72% of younger respondents have used TV news, only about half continue to watch it regularly, compared with 71% of those aged 35 and over. News websites and apps show a similar pattern, with high adoption across all age groups but lower retention among younger users. These findings suggest that the long-term decline of television and digital news websites is driven primarily by their inability to retain younger audiences, while newspapers and radio face the dual challenge of both attracting and keeping users.

People Still Prefer Impartiality in the News

Despite what inflamed social media conversations may make it seem like, most people still prefer impartial news. Across all surveyed markets, 45% of respondents said they prefer news from sources that do not share or challenge their point of view, while only 22% prefer sources that share their views and 15% prefer sources that challenge them. These preferences have remained largely unchanged over the past six years, and impartial news outlets continue to achieve the highest reach both online and offline.

However, the minority who prefer like-minded news tend to be more partisan, more engaged, more vocal, and more commercially valuable to publishers. This creates incentives for newer or struggling organisations and creators to adopt clearer editorial positions to attract loyal audiences.

Preferences also vary across countries. In markets with high social media use and greater political polarisation, fewer people prioritise impartiality. Countries such as Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Mexico show a stronger preference for news aligned with personal values. Younger people are also somewhat less likely to prioritise impartial news, although impartiality remains the most common preference across all age groups.

Public Service Media

Public service media (PSM) continue to receive more positive than negative evaluations overall. Across all surveyed markets, 37% of respondents believe public service news has a positive effect on society, compared with 22% who view its impact negatively. 35% view public service media neutrally or think it has little impact in either direction. Support is particularly strong in the Nordic countries and Portugal, while attitudes are more negative in countries such as Italy, France, Slovakia, and Serbia. 

Positive perceptions of public service media are closely linked to trust in news and regular use of public service broadcasters. People who trust the news are far more likely to see PSM as beneficial, while those who distrust the news are more likely to view it negatively. Respondents who use public service media are also substantially more positive about its societal role than non-users. Negative attitudes towards PSM may also reflect concerns about political interference and declining media independence, as seen in Slovakia.

Political identity plays a significant role in shaping attitudes towards public service media. In most countries, people on the political left tend to hold more positive views of public service media, while those on the right are generally less positive or even hold negative views. This pattern is evident even in Finland, where overall trust in news is among the highest in the world. There, 63% of respondents on the left have a positive view of public service media, compared with just 18% on the right. There are, however, some exceptions. In Italy, respondents on the left are more negative towards public service media than those on the right, likely reflecting recent leadership changes and concerns about increasing political influence over the country's public broadcaster.

People who believe public service media has a positive effect on society primarily value its ability to provide trustworthy and universally accessible news. Around 40% of supporters also agree that PSM delivers high-quality journalism, supports democracy, is free from commercial and political influence, and represents a wide range of perspectives.

Critics, however, most commonly cite political influence and bias as the main reason for their negative view of public service media, with 71% identifying it as a concern. They are also more likely to believe that PSM is not sufficiently trustworthy, does not represent a wide enough range of viewpoints, and is out of touch with or fails to reflect all parts of society. 

Conclusion

The 2026 Reuters Institute Digital News Report shows that the news landscape continues to evolve rapidly. Younger audiences increasingly consume news through social media, video, creators, and AI-powered tools, while traditional channels continue to lose users. At the same time, most people still value impartial journalism and continue to view AI and creators as complementary sources rather than replacements for established news outlets. 

Another key theme running throughout the report is the growing impact of political polarisation. It shapes trust in news, attitudes towards public service media, preferences for impartial or like-minded news sources, and the role that news creators play in different countries. Although the minority who prefer news that aligns with their own views tend to be more engaged, vocal, and commercially valuable to publishers, the majority of audiences still prefer impartial news. While catering to partisan audiences may offer short-term commercial benefits, doing so risks further contributing to political polarisation and weakening public confidence in journalism over time. 

For publishers, these findings highlight the need to adapt to changing audience behaviour without compromising the qualities that build long-term trust. As news consumption becomes increasingly fragmented across platforms and formats, balancing innovation with credibility while maintaining editorial independence, impartiality, and public trust will be essential to ensuring journalism's long-term relevance and sustainability.