TikTok news consumption is on the rise. Back in 2020, just three percent of respondents to a survey held in the United States stated that they regularly got their news from TikTok. By 2023, this figure had increased more than fourfold to 14 percent. Younger adults – those aged between 18 and 29 years old – are the most frequent TikTok news users, with more than a third getting news there on a regular basis, double that of adults between 30 and 49 years and ten times the share of adults aged 65 and over.
The rise of TikTok as a news source
TikTok’s penetration rate in the U.S. is highest among adults aged between 18 and 24 years. More than three quarters of consumers in this age bracket use the platform, and for teens aged between 12 and 17 years, the figure was similarly high at almost 70 percent. These young users are those driving TikTok’s growing popularity as a news source. Whilst X (formerly known as Twitter) remains the most used social network for news, TikTok is rapidly catching up. Alongside Facebook, TikTok now ranks as the second most popular social media site for news consumption, with 43 percent of U.S. adults regularly using each platform to keep up to date, and TikTok is set to overtake Facebook in the next year in this respect. The share of U.S. adults using Facebook for news fell consistently in every year from 2020 to 2023, whereas in the same time period, the share getting news via TikTok almost doubled.
The most popular news publishers on TikTok
According to the most recently available data, the leading news publisher on TikTok in the U.S. is socially native brand NowThis, with 5.5 million followers. Targeting left-leaning younger consumers, NowThis describes itself as social media’s number one video news brand. Ranking second, third, and fourth respectively are broadcast TV news outlets ABC, NBC, and CBS with between three and five million followers. Meanwhile, left-leaning cable network CNN had less success with a follower count of under 1.5 million.
Share of adults who regularly get news from TikTok in the United States from 2020 to 2023, by age group
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Pew Research Center. (November 15, 2023). Share of adults who regularly get news from TikTok in the United States from 2020 to 2023, by age group [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 21, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1346500/share-adults-age-news-regular-tiktok-us/
Pew Research Center. "Share of adults who regularly get news from TikTok in the United States from 2020 to 2023, by age group." Chart. November 15, 2023. Statista. Accessed December 21, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1346500/share-adults-age-news-regular-tiktok-us/
Pew Research Center. (2023). Share of adults who regularly get news from TikTok in the United States from 2020 to 2023, by age group. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: December 21, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1346500/share-adults-age-news-regular-tiktok-us/
Pew Research Center. "Share of Adults Who Regularly Get News from Tiktok in The United States from 2020 to 2023, by Age Group." Statista, Statista Inc., 15 Nov 2023, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1346500/share-adults-age-news-regular-tiktok-us/
Pew Research Center, Share of adults who regularly get news from TikTok in the United States from 2020 to 2023, by age group Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1346500/share-adults-age-news-regular-tiktok-us/ (last visited December 21, 2024)
Share of adults who regularly get news from TikTok in the United States from 2020 to 2023, by age group [Graph], Pew Research Center, November 15, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1346500/share-adults-age-news-regular-tiktok-us/
