TV Remains Favorite News Source Of Americans

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E-Marketer, a research firm focused on digital marketing, media, and commerce said that more than 50% of adult consumers in the United States still favor the television as their primary source of news, based on a June 2013 survey released by Gallup.

According to the research firm, consumers older than 65 years old (68%) and those without a college degree (61%) prefer watching news from TV, while college graduates (32%), and post graduate degree (27%) consumers prefer to watch or read about current events on the internet.

TV Favorite News Source

The survey also showed that only 8% of consumers within the age of 50-64 year old have interest in print media, while 18% of consumers more than 65 years old still prefer reading the newspaper. The average rate of adults between the ages of 18 to 49 years interested in print as their preferred source of news was only 6.5%.

Fox and CNN Lead as TV News Sources

The percentage of consumers who prefer the radio as their news source was only 3% (18 to 29 years old and more than 65 years old), 5% (adults ages 50-64), and 7% (50 to 64 years old).

Among television stations, FOX emerged as the leading news channel with 8%  of viewers, while CNN landed second place with 7% market share.  Local TV news channels ranked third with a 4% market share, beating other national networks in the country. EMarketer indicated that the percentage does not reflect the actual number of viewership, but the opinion of consumers as their leading source of news.

EMarketer also noted a small percentage of consumers (2%) indicated that their preferred news sources were Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Twitter, and other social media sites.

Employed Americacns Prefer Internet and Radio

In addition, the survey also revealed that a bigger percentage of employed Americans (26%) prefer the internet as their primary source of news compared with those without jobs (15%). People who are currently employed also prefer listening to the radio for news. The research firm speculated that workers more likely listen to the radio during their commute, and most likely access news online while at work.

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