News consumption is changing around the globe, and the Digital News Report, recently published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, provides valuable insights into the scale and direction of this transformation. The results cover the online population in 48 countries across continents. In most developed markets, this is almost equal to the total population.
Of those surveyed, 21% reported using radio as a source of news in the previous week. This figure is below that for social media, TV and websites, but above that for print, podcasts and AI chatbots.
This represents an all-time low for radio. Ten years ago, 37% of respondents had listened to the news on the radio in the previous week, compared to 26% five years ago. Therefore, the decline continues, albeit at a slower pace. To better understand this trend, a new question was added this year, revealing a somewhat worrying figure for the radio industry: 32% of respondents used to consume news on the radio but no longer do.
For podcasts, 11% of interviewees used them in the previous week to listen to the news. This figure is the same as last year, when podcasts were included for the first time.
Radio news consumption shows a clear demographic pattern: listening increases with age (26% of respondents aged 55 and over vs. 13% of those aged 18–24), while the opposite is true for podcasts. Just 8% of those aged above 55 claim to have listened to a news podcast in the last week, compared to 15% of those aged 25–34.
AI chatbots are used more than podcasts as a source of news by people in the 25-34 age bracket, and more than radio among those aged 18 to 24.
The geography of news radio and podcasts
Africans and Europeans listen to the most radio news. The countries where the largest proportion of the online population listens to radio news are Austria (42%), Kenya (40%), Ireland (35%), and Germany, Norway, and Sweden (all three at 34%). The biggest increases were reported in Morocco (up from 26% to 30%) and Australia (up from 25% to 28%).
At the lower end of the chart are Asian and American countries where people listen to less radio news. These include Indonesia (6%, decreasing), Argentina (9%), Thailand and the U.S. (both 10%). This means a 3-percentage-point year-on-year decrease in the U.S., representing fewer than half of the population who used it in 2020. Other countries with significant decreases in the last 12 months include Nigeria (down from 38% to 29%) and South Africa (down from 33% to 27%).
News podcast consumption is higher in African countries, whereas Europeans are less keen to use this medium. As in previous years, there are four countries where more people listen to news via podcasts than via radio. These are Bulgaria (15% vs. 12%), the U.S. (14% vs. 10%), Indonesia (17% vs. 6%) and, for the first time, India (17% vs. 15%). Due to the decrease in podcast news listening, more South Koreans are listening to the news on the radio this year. In Nigeria, the numbers are the same for both (29%, the highest news podcast consumption).
This report is worth your time if you work in news production. Individual country analysis provides further details, including reach and trust at the outlet level, and allows a comprehensive overview of the state of the industry.
You can view or download the report below.
The author is a co-founder and research director at South 180.
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