Young Audiences Embrace Audio, But Recast What Qualifies As ‘News.’

Younger audiences are listening — but not necessarily to the news. A new report from the Reuters Institute finds that while people 18 to 24 are more engaged with podcasts than older groups, that interest is not translating into strong demand for news podcasts. That gap reflects a broader shift in how younger audiences define and engage with content. Rather than seeking out traditional news programming, they are gravitating toward formats that blend information with entertainment, personality, and storytelling.

“One factor may be around definitions of what podcasts or news-related podcasts are. Many young people may not see their favorite podcasts as being in the news category,” the report says. “These may be chat shows, comedy shows, or interview format shows that sometimes touch on news.”

Driving that home was that “The Joe Rogan Experience” tops the list of news podcasts this younger demographic says it listens to. But Reuters says the show also doesn’t meet the traditional definition of what a news podcast is. Its report says podcast listeners it surveyed came down on both sides.

“Notably, many popular news-related podcasts exist outside of the mainstream, often with partisan leanings,” Reuters says. It points to online brands like “The MeidasTouch Podcast,” “The Young Turks” and “Pod Save America” capturing attention on the left, while conservative outlets like The Daily Wire have built up a large following with podcasts from Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson.

The Reuters Institute describes a generation that is not disengaged from media but instead consuming it differently. It says young people consume a plethora of media and information, often in more diverse and complex ways, with a growing preference for formats that feel more personal and less institutional.

Podcasts remain part of the mix, but they are competing with a wider ecosystem that includes video, social media, and creator-led content. The report highlights a broader trend toward audiovisual consumption, noting young audiences’ “growing appetite for audio and visual formats” and their desire for “the intimacy and authenticity of personality-led content.”

For podcasting, that creates both an opportunity and a challenge. Audio’s traditional strengths — depth, narrative, and host connection — still resonate. But the report suggests those attributes are now expected to come from individuals rather than institutions. On social and video platforms, 51% of young people say they pay more attention to individual creators, compared to 39% who focus on traditional news brands.

That shift is reshaping how younger listeners encounter audio content in the first place.

Instead of actively seeking out podcasts, many are discovering them incidentally through platform feeds. The report notes that young audiences are increasingly “consuming news less intentionally and more incidentally,” often encountering content while using social or video platforms for other purposes.

As a result, direct relationships between traditional news publishers and listeners are weakening. Only 14% of 18- to 24-year-olds say their main way of accessing news online is by going directly to a publisher’s website or app, far behind social media and search.

“Ten years ago in 2015, young people’s main way of accessing news was through online news websites and apps of publishers,” the report says. “They now rely on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for news, overtaking Facebook, which was the dominant platform ten years ago.” The data shows just 4% go to radio for news, down from 6% in 2015.

That behavior has direct implications for podcasting, where discovery has historically depended on subscriptions and loyal audiences. At the same time, younger audiences are simply less engaged with news overall. The report finds 64% of people ages 18–24 consume news daily, compared to 87% of those 55 and older, and only 35% say they are “very” or “extremely” interested in news.

Still, Reuters cautions against interpreting these trends as a rejection of news entirely. Instead, it points to a redefinition of what counts as news and how it should be delivered. The report says younger audiences often have a “broader definition of news beyond traditional topics,” incorporating content that is more personally relevant or entertaining. For publishers, that suggests the issue is not audio itself, but format and framing.

Read the full report HERE.