New research from the Digital News Report Australia 2026 has revealed a major shift in news consumption habits, with Australian’s under 35 increasingly turning away from traditional platforms and towards social media creators, influencers and generative AI tools to stay informed.
The report, released by the University of Canberra’s News and Media Research Centre (N&MRC), found that while younger Australians are far less likely to consume news through newspapers, radio or television, their overall interest in news has risen sharply.
For the first time, Australians under 35 reported higher interest in politics than older generations, with news interest among 18–24-year-olds increasing by 12 percentage points since 2023.
The findings suggest younger audiences are not disengaged from news — they are simply accessing it through different channels.
Professor Sora Park, lead author of the report and Director of the N&MRC, said younger Australians are moving away from traditional routines and towards more personalised and platform-driven news habits.
“Young Australians are not disengaged from news – they are reshaping how news is accessed, consumed and understood,” Park said.
“We are seeing a generational shift away from fixed routines and traditional platforms towards more fluid, platform-driven and personalised news habits.”
The report found 60 per cent of Australians aged 18–24 have never used newspapers for news, while 53 per cent have never listened to radio news and one quarter have never turned on television for news.
Instead, nearly half (48 per cent) of 18–24-year-olds now get news from TikTok.
The influence of creators and influencers is also growing rapidly, with more than half of Australians under 35 saying news creators meet their information needs.
Across the broader population, 43 per cent of Australians now get news from influencers or creators.
Among those audiences, creator-led news is often viewed as more effective than traditional news, with 59 per cent saying it is more entertaining, 55 per cent saying it feels more relatable, and 56 per cent saying it is easier to understand.
At the same time, generative AI is becoming another emerging layer in how Australians navigate information.
Nearly one in ten Australians (9 per cent) now use AI chatbots including ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity for news, rising to 16 per cent among Australians under 25.
Those using AI for news say they are turning to chatbots to follow up on stories, summarise information, explain complex topics and verify information they encounter elsewhere online.
However, trust remains a major challenge.
Only 19 per cent of Australians trust news accessed through AI chatbots, while 21 per cent trust news found through social media, compared with 43 per cent trust in news overall.
Concern around misinformation is also continuing to rise, with 77 per cent of Australians saying they are worried about what is real and what is fake online.
“AI is becoming another layer in how Australians navigate information,” Park said.
“But trust remains central. Audiences continue to place greater value on journalism they perceive as credible, transparent and accurate.”
The report also found social media is now one of the biggest gateways to news, with 56 per cent of Australians using it as a news source — just behind television at 57 per cent and ahead of online news websites and apps at 52 per cent.
For the first time, social media (32 per cent) has overtaken direct visits to news websites (31 per cent) as the main way Australians access online news.
Despite ongoing cost-of-living pressures, younger Australians are also proving more willing to pay for news than older audiences.
More than one quarter (27 per cent) of 18–24-year-olds and 41 per cent of 25–34-year-olds now pay for news, compared with 16 per cent of Australians aged 65 and over.
