Essential Report

Frequency of reading news on technology platforms

Mar 2, 2021

Q. How frequently do you use technology platforms like Google and social media to search for and read news articles?

	Mar’21	Sep’20
At least daily	49%	52%
At least once a week	24%	22%
At least once a month	7%	8%
Less frequently than one a month	10%	6%
Never	11%	11%
Base (n)	1,074	1,076

	Total	Age Group
	Total	18-34	35-54	55+
At least daily	49%	51%	58%	38%
At least once a week	24%	28%	25%	20%
At least once a month	7%	10%	6%	5%
Less frequently than one a month	10%	7%	6%	17%
Never	11%	4%	6%	20%
Base (n)	1,074	326	363	385

Just under half (49%) of adult Australians use Google and social media to search and read news on a daily basis (down 3 percentage points since Sep’20). A further 24% use these platforms at least weekly.
People aged 35-54 are the heaviest consumers of news through Google and social media, with 58% using these platforms on a daily basis.

Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.

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