Roughly a quarter of U.S. adults polled said they get news from YouTube, and the majority of those believe the video-sharing platform is an important way to stay informed, a report found Monday.
The report, published by Pew Research Center, also found that YouTube channels unaffiliated with mainstream media outlets are nearly as popular on the platform as their established counterparts.
Its contents include analyses of recent polling of 12,638 adults conducted by Pew and a study of popular YouTube channels that produce news content.
Twenty-six percent of respondents said they get news on YouTube, and 72% of those described the platform as either an important way or the most important way to get news, Pew reported.
Among those who get news on YouTube, 23% said they “often” get news from channels run by established outlets like Fox News or CNN; 23% said they “often” get news from independent channels.
By identifying thousands of news-related YouTube channels with a minimum of 100,000 subscribers and then taking a sample of those, Pew found that 49% were associated with established outlets and 42% were run by independent video creators, the report found.
“The study finds a news landscape on YouTube in which established news organizations and independent news creators thrive side by side – and consequently, one where established news organizations no longer have full control over the news Americans watch,” its authors wrote.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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