News Media (TV)

If you think television news is soon to be extinct, you’re far from the truth.  In its annual “State of the News” report, Pew found that television is still commonplace for people to get their news.  And the audience in two key timeslots (4 p.m – 7 pm) and (11 p.m.) also grew in 2020.  That increase, in part, is attributed to the pandemic and Americans quarantined in the second quarter of the year.  The cash flow for TV stations was $18.4 billion and since it was an election year, the income was even greater.  Digital revenue is also great by six percent.

Print (Newspapers)

While you also probably thought newspapers were yesterday’s news — that’s also not quite true, though circulation is declining. The estimated total U.S. daily newspaper circulation (print and digital combined) in 2020 was 24.3 million for weekdays and 25.8 million for Sunday, each down 6% from the previous year.  One interesting fact is that newspapers were drawing their biggest portion of the income from paid digital subscriptions versus advertising.

See more facts from the State of News Report from PEW