Media Consumption Trends 2025: News Avoidance, Video, Podcasts, and Newsletters

Attention didn’t shrink. It moved.

Media planning is harder today not because people stopped paying attention, but because their attention is splitting across more formats.

The 2025 Digital News Report shows that 40% of people often or sometimes avoid the news, up from 29% in 2017. Traditional news engagement is declining while reliance on social and video platforms is rising.

At the same time, other research shows attention is alive and well—just redistributed:

• Newsletters: Pew Research finds 30% of U.S. adults get news from newsletters at least sometimes.
• Podcasts: Edison Research reports 58% of Americans 12+ consume podcasts monthly.
• Online audio: 81% of Americans 12+ listen to online audio monthly.
• YouTube for podcasts: Sounds Profitable’s 2025 study shows 40% of consumers use YouTube most often for podcasts.

The story is not that attention disappeared. It’s that attention moved into format-native channels.

News avoidance ≠ attention loss

When 40% of people say they often or sometimes avoid the news, it’s tempting to assume overall attention is shrinking. The broader data suggests something more actionable:

• People are not abandoning information.
• They are becoming more selective about format, tone, timing, and emotional load.

That’s why podcasts, newsletters, and video keep growing in strategic importance even as traditional news engagement becomes more fragile.

For PR teams, this means the old idea of earned media as mostly journalist placement is too narrow.

Attention is moving toward format-native channels

Each research source highlights a different part of the same shift:

• Newsletters matter because 30% of adults get news from them at least sometimes.
• Podcasts matter because 58% of Americans consume them monthly and weekly listening remains strong.
• Online audio matters because 81% of Americans use it monthly.
• YouTube matters because it is now a primary podcast environment for many consumers.

None of these channels replaces the others. Together, they describe a more fragmented but more actionable media environment.

What this means for earned media strategy

If attention is more distributed, PR teams need a wider earned media mix.

A strong story should be evaluated not just for “which journalist should get this,” but also for:

• Which newsletter audience would care about it.
• Whether it fits a podcast conversation better than a short quote.
• Whether it will travel well in video clips or social posts.
• Which channel best matches the depth and tone of the message.

This is especially important for complex stories:

• Category education