 This morning, I was perusing the recently published Digital News Report: Australia 2024 , published in June 2024, by the News and Media Research Centre at The University of Canberra. It sheds light on the evolving landscape of news consumption in Australia.
Given the contracting media landscape and recent publication closures, I found it a fascinating read. Apart from increased PR competition for column inches for shrinking news platforms/outlets, we (PRs) will also need to consider the changing ways Australians consume media and factor that into our PR and communications strategy. I found several of the report's findings insightful. I will likely pull out some more interesting stats and discuss PR implications in more detail for future articles, but below are a few more salient bits. Aussie news consumers are a mistrustful bunch. Aussies are more distrustful of misinformation than the global average. Concern about online misinformation in Australia rose from 65% in 2016 to 75% in 2024, well above the global average of 54%. In terms of news, Trust in news has fallen to 40% (-3pp) since last year. With that in mind, audiences also find it hardest to identify misinformation on TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) and easiest on Google, Facebook, and YouTube. Aussies aren't keen on AI for News. Almost 60% of Australians are less comfortable with the use of AI to produce news compared to consumers in most other countries. We will accept AI to report on Sports, but reporting on politics using AI is a big NO. Despite increasing "news avoidance", more than half of us access news daily Reassuringly, 51 per cent of Australians access news more than once a day, a three percentage point increase from last year. I had thought that figure was dropping, so it was nice to see it growing. That said, news avoidance remains high at 68%, with weariness from the volume of news up by 13 percentage points. Growing demand for Local News The report highlighted the need for more local news and audiences wanting more. It said: "Local News has the widest gap between satisfaction with availability and levels of interest in it. This is especially true in regional areas." I think this presents attractive PR opportunities for small local brands where they have a local news source available to them. I am a passionate advocate of independent local news outlets that have editorial independence from the subjects of their news coverage. Local outlets are a fantastic vehicle for PR for community organisations and local businesses to reach audiences and markets. PRs need video skills or a videographer in their network. Audiences are tuning in to video-based formats and social media for their news, and for PRs, this signals that providing clear and accessible visual stories can help audiences understand complex events. Consumer PRs have known this for ages, but B2B PRs need to get more creative. How we use social media for news Facebook (32%), YouTube (26%) and Instagram (16%) are the top social media platforms for news among Australians. LinkedIn for news is still relatively low at 5%. The report says: "Since 2016, Australians have been increasingly turning to image and video-based platforms like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok for news. There has been a significant decline in the use of Facebook for news (-13pp), whereas YouTube (+11pp), Instagram (+13pp) and TikTok (+8pp since 2020) have become popular ways to get news." YouTube has jumped ten percentage points since 2022 (35%) for news among young men. Mainstream news outlets are the most popular news sources on Facebook (57%), YouTube (48%) and Instagram (46%). The use of mainstream news on X (formerly Twitter) has fallen to 49% (-13pp), and news from ordinary people has risen (47%, +10pp). Instagram is now the top social media platform for news among Gen Z (34%, +8pp). Gender Bias - Losing female audiences when news comes off socials There's a clear gender bias when it comes to social media, with women using it more than men for news, primarily via Facebook and Instagram. PRs and journalists need to consider how to target this audience going forward, as news organisations will become less prevalent on social media platforms (particularly Meta) in the future. News outlets will likely focus more on emails, alerts, and podcasts as a gateway to audiences paying for news (to reduce reliance on social media). PR professionals should start thinking of creative ways to partner using these formats. Given the information in the report, I will pull out some more interesting data in a later post to discuss the implications of PR and comms. Image Credit: Social Media Platforms for News 2016-2024. Image: Digital News Report: Australia 2024 by University of Canberra
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