Younger individuals need their information to be extra enjoyable, a brand new report says

In the information business, there’s no scarcity of knowledge that claims the identical factor: younger adults and older adults get their information in numerous methods.

While older adults (age 55 and up) are principally locked in on conventional information sources, younger individuals more and more flip to influencers and AI. As newsrooms grapple with how you can lure youthful audiences to their platforms, a new report printed Tuesday asks a distinct query: What do younger individuals really need their information to be like?

The reply is, properly, extra enjoyable. (Wouldn’t all of us like that?)

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism on the University of Oxford analyzed a decade’s price of its personal analysis in regards to the information consumption habits of 18- to 24-year-olds from around the globe, in comparison with these of adults ages 55 and up. Both teams prioritized native and worldwide information, however youthful adults ranked “fun news” (satire and issues that make them snort) fifth, whereas older adults ranked it tenth.

In addition to being informative, younger individuals additionally need their information to be entertaining, which the report’s authors attribute to “the increased use of platforms that provide both almost simultaneously may be shaping preferences and expectations.”

While youthful information shoppers typically suppose the media does a superb job of holding them knowledgeable, it’s much less profitable at making them really feel higher in regards to the world.

 

Some information publishers have taken notice of this want for “good news”:

The BBC (UK), Daily Maverick (South Africa), and Excelsior (Mexico) have created designated sections inside their web sites that collate excellent news, whereas the Guardian (UK) and Delfino.cr (Costa Rica) provide uplifting newsletters. The Globe and Mail (Canada) has accomplished deeper editorial restructuring with this in thoughts, creating new beats for “healthy living” and “happiness,” amongst others.

Overall, the report discovered that younger individuals’s consumption habits aren’t a monolith and have modified with the occasions. While younger individuals in 2015 have been extra prone to be on-line information shoppers, in 2025 they gravitate extra to social-first information and media.

“The data are clear that young people consume a plethora of media and information, often in more diverse and complex ways,” the report’s authors write. “Their growing appetite for audio and visual formats comes with a desire for the intimacy and authenticity of personality-led content. They also tend to be at the forefront of experimentation with new technologies, such as AI, and more open to its use by journalists.”

Read the complete report here.