September 30, 2020
A new study by Pew Research Center shows about a quarter of American adults now get their news from YouTube, where independent news creators and established news channels make up roughly equal shares of consumption. 42% of popular YouTube news channels were affiliated with independent news creators, most often centered around an individual personality and cultivated through their YouTube channel followers. 49% of popular YouTube news channels were affiliated with traditional news outlets, such as Fox News or CNN.
YouTube news consumers generally shared a positive view of their news experiences, with many citing increased access to outside-the-mainstream content and the diversity of opinions as selling points.
However, many acknowledged problems with the model, though few thought those problems were of great concern. Respondents cited a number of concerns, including YouTube control over content, misinformation, and political bias, among others. No more than 30% said any were “very big” problems, but a few issues — misinformation, political bias, YouTube “demonetization,” and censorship — were noted by more than half of participants as at least being “moderately big” problems.
Source: Pew Research Center