Nine in 10 under 40s engage with news every month, more than any other channel

A new report, The Youth Chapter, debunks the myth that young Australians don’t engage with news.

Contrary to popular belief, Australians under the age of 40 are embracing news with a new report showing nine in 10 young Australians read news every month, a figure far greater than any other media channel.

Drawing on Roy Morgan data, The Youth Chapter, released today by ThinkNewsBrands provides a detailed analysis of Total News* consumption for the under 40 demographic.

Findings of the report include:

Ninety-four per cent of under 40s in Australia read the news each month. Of that, 96 per cent of 25-to-39-year-olds are reading news and 91 per cent of 14-to-24-year-olds engage with news on a monthly basis.

Of the 20.4 million Australians that read news every month, 42 per cent of that audience is under 40 and each week, news engages more Australians under 40 than any other channel, including Facebook.

While digital news consumption is high, almost three in every five under 40s get their news from a newspaper.

News consumption is on the rise for this important demographic with dwell time increasing from 63 minutes in 2019 to 86 minutes in 2021.

One in three under 40s access news directly by searching for news or specific stories and going straight to the source.

News readers under the age of 40 are a covetable audience with research showing they are early adopters and influencers across categories from tech to real estate, lifestyle and food with 87 per cent of young news consumers regarded as “trusted advisors” in their sphere of influence.

Trust is also high among young news consumers with advertising placed in print and digital news far exceeding the levels of trust for search engines, social media and non-news sites.

ThinkNewsBrands General Manager Vanessa Lyons said: “One of the greatest myths is that young people don’t engage with news, a misconception often tied to the thinking that news only means printed newspapers. But these findings show that people under 40 are regularly turning to Australia’s major news publishers for trusted information.

“News brands continue to evolve their offerings to reach and engage younger readers by innovating the way news is delivered both on and off platform and clearly this is working to build the habit of regular news consumption among younger generations.”

*Total News refers to all professional journalist written news consumed within Australia, spanning both print and digital news mastheads and websites, including Australia’s leading publishers.

Media Enquiries
Brooke Hemphill
bhemphill@premiumcontentalliance.com.au
0419 351 445