Charted: America’s Most Popular News Sources (2024)
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The distribution of news in the internet era has never quite been so fractured. Between competing outlets, platforms, and formats, Americans can get their news from anywhere between a TikTok video to a station newspaper.
This graphic shows the percentage of Americans who use various news sources on a weekly basis. More than 2,000 nationally representative Americans were surveyed in a 2024 YouGov survey commissioned by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Local TV News Still Has a Foothold in America
When it comes to traditional mediums (TV, radio, and print), local TV stations are still the most frequently used by Americans (28%). Fox News (27%) comes in at a close second.
RankTV, Radio, Print% Weekly Use
1 Local TV news28
2 Fox News27
3 CNN23
4 ABC News20
5 CBS News20
6 NBC/MSNBC News18
7 Local newspaper14
8 New York Times13
9 USA Today12
10 BBC News12
11 Local radio news12
12 Washington Post9
13 Wall Street Journal8
14 The New York Post8
Multiple choices allowed. Responses do not sum to 100.
Meanwhile, CNN ranks as the third most popular choice (23%) with ABC and CBS News (both 20%) rounding out the top five.
As a whole, TV stations fill out the top six spots with local newspapers coming in 7th (14%). The New York Times (13%) and USA Today (12%) are the only named newspaper outlets to have double-digit responses.
Fox News and CNN Battle For Online Audience
However, in the digital realm, Fox News online (18%) just about takes the crown with a 1 percentage point lead over CNN.com (17%).
RankOnline Sources% Weekly Use
1 Fox News online18
2 CNN.com17
3 Yahoo! News16
4 Local TV news sites16
5 New York Times online15
6 USA Today online13
7 NBC/MSNBC News online11
8 Washington Post online11
9 BBC News online11
10 ABC News online10
11 CBS News online10
12 MSN News9
13 Wall Street Journal online9
14 New York Post online8
Multiple choices allowed. Responses do not sum to 100.
Local TV news websites and Yahoo! News tie for third place (16%). Both NYT and USA Today’s online editions perform better than their print counterparts.
In fact, the Times has been seeing declining print subscriptions for the last two years, even as online-only subscribers grow. A core component of drawing more online patrons is through bundling its many services. Games like Wordle are used as a funnel to grow digital subscriptions.
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