Reuters recently published its annual Digital News Report. The survey of 93,000 online news consumers is the most extensive of its kind and does a great job of putting numbers on trends.

Some of the big takeaways:

–Market share lost to social media: Traditional media continues to be unthroned at a steady and relentless rate. Five years ago almost one third of consumers accessed content via a brand’s web site. That’s now down to 22%. Social media has taken the lead with 30%.

–Young people are migrating to social media. Among people aged 18 to 24, the move toward social media has been especially pronounced, with 41% saying they get news from social media, up from just 18% in 2015.

–Facebook has lost ground to TikTok, YouTube. Facebook is less of a reliable funnel of readership to news sites. TikTok now reaches 44% of the market for 18-24 year olds.

–Influencers are replacing journalists: Younger audiences increasingly say they get their news from influencers or celebrities on TikTok, Snapchat or YouTube, not journalists.

–Skepticism about algorithms: There’s been a backlash against personalized news feeds, with only 30% saying that the algorithms do a good job, down 6 points from 2016. More and more people say they want to see posts from the people they follow.

–More people are avoiding news entirely: A record number — 36% — say they don’t read news at all. That’s coupled with “trust” in the media falling another two percentage points.

The study by authors Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, Kirsten Eddy, Craig T. Robertson, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen does a great job showing how the shift to read news on social media is hurting traditional media companies.

The study doesn’t go deep in analyzing the content itself. I’d like to see more of a comparison of the quality of mainstream media articles versus user generated content on social media. I often find articles on Substack, Beehive, Reddit, Twitter and LinkedIn more informative.

Many pieces are written by experts who provide more depth and nuance. Some are even faster.

Take coverage of the war in Ukraine. There are Reddit and YouTube channels set up by American military veterans who narrate helmet cam video from recent battles.

A video by a random veteran explaining weapons and tactics may not be journalism, but it is fantastic content.

Today, I read a fantastic Twitter thread by Nick Gerli who has a YouTube real estate channel. He outlined the impact of declining Airbnb revenues will likely have on housing markets in Phoenix and Austin.

What is starting to hit home for the traditional media is that readers don’t distinguish between news and “content.” It’s a zero sum game. There are only so many hours in the day.

As alternative content grows, traditional media will continue to be squeezed.