More Bad News For Free To Air, Internet Beats TV As News Source

SYDNEY: Online sources have taken over from TV as the main medium for news, accounting for 59 percent of Gen Z folk, who nominated social media as their first choice.

According to a Roy Morgan survey, about 12.7 million Australians (60.6pc, up from 57.8pc in mid-2018) now use the Net as the main source of their news, including: social media, 37.6pc; news or newspaper Web sites or apps, 29.2pc; and news-feed sites such as Google News, Apple News and Flipboard, 16.3pc.

Also included in the survey were e-mail subscriptions or updates at 8.9pc; magazines (printed, Web-site or app), 5.2pc; and other Web sites or apps at 5.6pc.

Just behind the online figures is TV, used by 12.4 million (59.5pc),  down from 65.6pc, and including free-to-air TV and pay TV such as Foxtel’s Sky/BBC/CNN/Fox News at 8.3pc.

Pre-boomers hanging on to print newspapers are the second ranked source of news at 54pc and third ranked source of news for baby boomers (41pc). But newspapers in their traditional format rank below free-to-air TV, radio and social media for Generation X, millennials and Generation Z.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said she sees the biggest challenge in the current COVID-19 crisis is  “getting the message through to younger generations who may feel the virus doesn’t pose a real threat to them.”