News Consumers Keep Turning To Podcasts As Trust Erodes Elsewhere.

The Reuters Institute’s 2026 Digital News Report suggests that while Americans are rapidly changing how they consume news, podcasts continue to carve out a stable and valuable place in the media landscape.

The study finds 14% of Americans listen to news podcasts weekly, up one point from a year earlier and more than double the share who use AI chatbots for news. Reuters reports that just 6% of Americans regularly turn to AI tools for news and information.

The report suggests podcasts continue to occupy a unique role in the news ecosystem. “Podcasts do well at attracting an enthusiastic audience and can be a good way of reaching younger audiences,” Reuters says.

The findings come as social media and video platforms continue to gain ground. Reuters says 77% of Americans now access news through online channels, including news websites, social media, podcasts and AI tools, while traditional television news continues its long-term decline.

Yet podcasts appear to be benefiting from a growing desire for deeper and more intentional news consumption. While nearly half of Americans (45%) say they sometimes or often avoid the news, podcast listeners remain among the most engaged news consumers.

Reuters notes that news podcast usage has remained remarkably stable even as audiences shift platforms and news habits continue to evolve. The report also points out that many podcasts are increasingly video-first products, meaning some podcast consumption is now being captured within broader online video trends.

That shift may prove beneficial. YouTube remains one of America’s largest news platforms, with 33% of Americans using it for news each week. Unlike TikTok and Instagram, where news is often encountered incidentally, Reuters says YouTube users are more likely to intentionally seek out news content and spend time with longer-form programming.

The report suggests that dynamic aligns well with the podcast industry’s ongoing embrace of video. Reuters notes that “many podcasts now being video-led,” a trend that increasingly places podcast creators alongside YouTube-native news and creator content rather than traditional audio competitors.

The findings also arrive as trust in news remains under pressure. Overall trust in news fell five points to 25% in the U.S., among the lowest levels measured in the Reuters study. Yet the report finds Americans continue to place greater trust in familiar and local news brands than in the broader information ecosystem.

That could be an important advantage for podcast publishers tied to established media organizations. Reuters found local television news remains the most trusted news source in America, followed by local newspapers and several national news organizations.

Meanwhile, concerns about misinformation continue to push audiences toward trusted sources. Reuters reports trust in news encountered on social media is significantly lower than trust in established news brands, while confidence in AI-generated news remains limited.

The report also documents growing consumer disengagement with news overall. Interest in news has fallen 13 points since 2021 across the markets surveyed, while 42% of respondents say they actively avoid news at least sometimes.

“A small but significant minority in every country say they do not use any news sources at all,” researcher Richard Fletcher writes in an analysis. “It points to the structural decline of news use in general, and not just the rise and fall of specific sources.”

Trust is also moving in the wrong direction. Global trust in news fell to 37%, the lowest level Reuters has recorded since it began tracking the metric in 2015.