Key findings about the online news landscape in America

Key findings about the way Americans get news online – as well as how digital newsrooms in the US are faring:

• The share of Americans who prefer to get their news online is growing. In 2018, 34% of US adults said they preferred to get news online, whether through websites, apps or social media. That’s compared with 28% in 2016. 
• Nearly as many Americans prefer to get their local news online as prefer the TV. Roughly four-in-ten US adults (37%) say they prefer to get their local news via online channels, similar to the share that prefers the TV set (41%). About three-quarters (77%) say the internet is important in how they get local news.
• Layoffs have affected digital-native news organizations as well as newspapers in recent years. While layoffs at newspapers have received plenty of media attention, digital-native news outlets have also seen cuts. Among the largest digital-native outlets – those with a monthly average of at least 10 million unique visitors – 14% went through layoffs in 2018 and 20% did the year before. Nearly all the digital-native news outlets that laid off staff in 2017 or 2018 cut more than 10 employees.
• More Americans get news on social media than from print newspapers. In 2018, one-in-five adults said they often get news on social media. And Facebook continues to dominate as the most common social media site used for news by Americans: About four-in-ten Americans (43%) get news on this site.