For more than a decade, the Reuters Institute Digital News Report has documented fundamental shifts in how young people (defined in this report as those aged 18–24) interact with and think about news during a period of significant technological, media and political transformation. 

This report brings together evidence from over a decade of research to shed light on young audiences today. Understanding generational shifts is vital for the financial sustainability of the news industry, which depends on a pipeline of younger consumers who will keep coming back to news. It also matters for the democratic health of societies, which requires individual citizens, including young people, to be informed and collectively share a basic understanding of the world. 

The report has two main objectives. The first is to map out key behavioural and attitudinal trends among young members of the public, shedding light on key differences and changes in how they consume and relate to news. Second, it illuminates what young people are proactively doing around news, not just what they are not doing compared to older groups. 

Key findings

• Young people are now clearly social-first rather than online-first when it comes to news. 
• They have embraced audio-visual platforms. They now rely on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for news, overtaking Facebook.
• Young people are more likely than older groups to prefer to listen to or to watch news online.
• Young people are less interested in news. 
• Most people across generations favour the idea of impartial news.