Key Points
- Politically-focused news outlets attract larger shares of highly engaged Americans than the general population, according to new research from Pew Research Center.
- ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN and Fox News attract audiences whose civic engagement more closely resembles the broader population; Axios, The Atlantic, The Hill and Politico have disproportionately high shares of politically-active audiences.
- Telemundo and Univision have higher shares of less politically engaged viewers than other major television news outlets, Pew Research Center said.
Audiences of politically-focused news outlets are more likely to participate in civic and political activities than Americans overall, while viewers of major television news networks more closely resemble the general population, according to new research from Pew Research Center.
The study released on Friday examined audiences of 30 news sources based on political participation, community involvement, religious attendance and news consumption.
Pew divided Americans into four groups: Mobilizers, who are highly active in public life; Connectors, who participate in civic and community activities; Spectators, who follow news but participate less in other activities; and Outsiders, who are comparatively disengaged.
Mobilizers account for 9 percent of U.S. adults but represent 19 percent of regular Axios readers, 18 percent of The Atlantic’s audience and 16 percent each of The Hill and Politico audiences. NPR and PBS also attract higher shares of Mobilizers, at 16 percent and 15 percent, respectively.
Television news audiences are more representative of the broader population, according to Pew, which found ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, CNN and Fox News attract a strong share of Outsiders comparable to the 31 percent recorded nationally. Telemundo and Univision each had a higher share at 38 percent, while BBC News, Newsmax and PBS had lower shares at 22 percent.
Connectors account for 28 percent of Americans but represent 47 percent of The Atlantic’s audience and 45 percent of The Hill’s audience. Breitbart, HuffPost and Politico each had a 44 percent share.
Spectators, who represent 31 percent of U.S. adults, are less common among audiences of many major news outlets. They account for 37 percent of regular consumers of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” 36 percent of Telemundo’s audience and 40 percent of Univision’s audience.
The differences are particularly evident among Hispanic audiences, with Pew finding that 44 percent of Hispanic Americans fall into the Spectators category, compared with 26 percent of non-Hispanic White Americans and 35 percent of Black Americans.
The full study is available to read for free by clicking or tapping here.
