Snack on this: new research shows that 18-34 year olds access newsbrands constantly during the day, often in bite-sized forms and through various channels.
The findings come from a study conducted by Newsworks and the University of Bath and reveal that young people still form strong newsbrand habits, despite facing a far more cluttered and competitive news landscape.
Generation News found that 74% of 18-34 year olds turn to newsbrands to get a “balanced point of view” and 78% agree that their newsbrand introduces them to stories they wouldn’t otherwise read.
Millennials are more likely than boomers (50-65 year olds) to exhibit their news habits on digital devices – allowing them to snack on news throughout the day – and they have developed different routes of accessing newsbrands.
For example, 73% of 18-34s agree they visit a newsbrand website to get more information when they see an interesting story on social media.
“This study shows that newsbrands remain as addictive across generations as they have ever been, with young people relying on them as much as their parents do for a balanced and informed view,” said Bas Verplanken, professor of social psychology at the University of Bath.
“What’s interesting is how millennials are discovering newsbrands – digitally and via social media numerous times a day. That’s testament to how well newsbrands have adapted to a connected age.”
Over one million 50-65 year olds read a digital newsbrand daily – as well as newspapers. Yet unlike their children, boomers’ newsbrand habits are more centred on specific times of day.
For both generations, the “saturation of news” in a multi-platform world has “strengthened the role of newsbrands” as providers of ‘real’ and ‘professional’ journalism, Newsworks said.
“We live in a world saturated with news, with a multitude of sources available to us, so we wanted to understand how that is affecting newsbrand habits across the generations,” said Denise Turner, Newsworks’ insight director.
“This research shows that our multi-platform news landscape has created more routes into newsbrands, with new habits being formed. Newsbrands continue to provide a trusted lens on the world.”
Access the full report on Newswork’s website.
