Internet Surpasses Television As The Main Source Of News

A study from Paw Research Centre reports that internet now a days is the major news source.

Internet As A Main News Source

65% of the crowd below 30 preferred the Internet to television in 2010 as the source of national as well as international news, which was 37% in 2007. At the same time, the percentage of viewers considering television as the main source of news has dropped from 68% to 52%.

In a survey of 1,500 American adults by the Paw Research Centre, 41% said they get their news online. The figures have doubled from 17% in 2007. The survey concluded that the percentage of people that cite television has dropped down to 66% from 74%, clearly portraying the spread of the online news source amongst other age groups too.

48% of the people between 30-59 years of age approach the Internet for news updates, which was only 32% in 2007, while only 63% cite television compared to 71% of 2007. The amount of people between 51-64 that cite television as their main news source remains the same, that is, 71%, and that of internet (34%) is equivalent to newspaper (38%). The percentage of individuals 65 and older that consider internet as their news source is 14%, which was only 5% earlier. For 71% such people television still remains the main source.

Graphs Representing The Shift From Television To Internet

These figures are a result of the increase in the personalized news stream online. Facebook News Feed and twitter that were launched in summer 2006 saw staggering growth since 2008. The count of Facebook users has grown from 30 million in 2007 to 500 million in 2010 and that of Twitter has increased from 6000 per day in 2007 to 90 million a day in 2010.

The culture of television has shifted in the last few years. The increasing number of online media streaming services and Internet-television connection devices like Boxee and Roku, provide additional as well as advanced options to the mass now. Due to the ability to personalize the news and entertainment one wants to consume, these innovative methods have become more attractive for a number of people.