Google, Yahoo & Portals Are Top Online News Sources: Study

Major news portals — like Yahoo News, Google News, AOL, and Topix — are the most commonly used online news sources, beating out the web sites of major news outlets like CNN, CBS, and the New York Times. That’s according to the the State of the Media report issued tonight by the Pew Research Center’s […]

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Major news portals — like Yahoo News, Google News, AOL, and Topix — are the most commonly used online news sources, beating out the web sites of major news outlets like CNN, CBS, and the New York Times. That’s according to the the State of the Media report issued tonight by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The study surveyed more than 2,200 online news consumers between December 28, 2009, and January 19, 2010, and found that more than half of online news readers use a major news portal on a typical day, and among younger news consumers (aged 18-29), more than two-thirds visit news portals like Yahoo News or Google News. The news portals beat out all other online news sources among all three age groups.

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Also noteworthy is that the Facebook-related news sources scored dramatically higher than Twitter.

The study also cites Nielsen and Hitwise data that shows Yahoo News was the top online news site in 2009.

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Some other interesting findings from the Pew study:

  • About 71% of internet users, or 53% of all American adults, get their news online; that number has been relatively steady in recent years.
  • Only 35% of online news consumers have a favorite site. Most news consumers rely on multiple sources to get their news.
  • Of that 35%, only 19% said they’d be willing to pay for news online.

If you’re interested in news, and online news specifically, there’s a lot of thought-provoking material in the report. You can read it online or download the report via PewInternet.org or StateoftheMedia.org.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Matt McGee
Contributor
Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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