Google News Cluster Analysis: Updated
Andrew Dugan
12/19/2022
Google News Clusters: A deeper look at the traits which help make each segment unique
This briefing is an working document to help guide our collective thinking as we consider “who,” these clusters are and how best we can introduce them to the world.
It may first help to refresh ourselves on the overall cluster distribution. As the below table shows, we have technically 7 segment groups, though one of them – the “Not Interested,” – will be routinely disregarded throughout the rest of this analysis. This means that, at a maximum, there are six segments which we are trying to describe.
Furthermore, not all clusters are created (or at least analyzed) equally, so to speak. We have shown greater interest in clusters which meet some combination of the following criteria:
-Size of the cluster: All things being equal, larger groups are preferred to small ones, however there are exceptions here. The “holding others accountable,” cluster represents just 4% of the overall sample, and reaches a maximum size of 6% in the United States and the United Kingdom. Still, the group is of interest due to other characteristics we currently know about it.
-General media interest of the cluster, as well as interest in specific forms of news and/or topics: Clusters who, broadly speaking report little interest in the news, or have no discernible interest in the information they do consume are also of a lower-priority, all other things being equal.
-Use digital platforms to get the news, especially those platforms where Google has a presence (news aggregators, online videos, search engines, etc.) The Google team’s interest in this domain probably requires no further explanation. It is worth noting that in recent discussions our attention is now focusing on the use of digital platforms for news (either specific platforms or in general) on a “multiple times a week,” “daily,” or “more than daily,” basis. As these variables were used only as split variables in the analysis, they represent potentially interesting descriptors. -When people get their news This is a relatively unexplored thus far, and these items were not actually used in the segmentation. However, there is the possibility these items could create actionable insights. -Subscription/pay for content Our teams is interested in identifying those news consumers who pay (or have paid) for news as well as the type of content they pay for. -Notable demographic or personal characteristics, broadly speaking While this topic has been explored in previous analyses, it is worth digging deeperfor interesting demographic patterns to stick out with respect to certain clusters – especially characteristics which match previous research (or general conventional wisdom) about certain issues, such as young people being more tech-oriented. Examples of important demographics include: -Age: (especially 18-24 year old cohort which was oversamples in all countries)
-Education: (note: we have this on a country by country basis, though ABD recoded into a three-category general variable. It may be we rethink the recoding but a challenge is simply that the sample for any given country is far more educated than the general public, though our sample is supposed to be representative of internet users not the generl public)
-Gender: Our sample has a collective (slight) male bias for reasons related to the disproportionate share of men sampled in India, in accordance with the natural gender skew of the internet-using population in that country.
-Type of device a person owns: Though this has not been super helpful thus far.
-Socio-economic status.
-Country of cluster: This would never be used to describe a cluster, but is important all the same to note. In theory, a given cluster group should have a similar country of residence distribution as the overall sample, which is about 12.5% per country (weights applied). As we will see, not all countries follow this pattern.
This does not represent an exhaustive list of all the attributes which might make for an interesting cluster description, but provides, at the very least, the more important themes to consider.
This document is broken down into several major sections, including:
- Examination of overall cluster distribution by country and tests of association
- Digital platform usage of the news – the Q1 series, focusing on the “multiple times a week category,” which we have not previously explored, at least using this definition.
- Time of day
- Topics (these were used in segmentation)
- Demographic analysis/News-interest items (essentially the first 7 questions of the survey). We have mostly looked at these before.
- TBD
In general, this analysis will ignore the not interested category, including in statistical analyses comparing one cluster group to all other respondents, as we are attempting to distinguish between the segments of interest. As this group represents 5% of respondents altogether (on a weighted basis), and up to 10% in some countries (the United States) it was seemed sensible not include them in any reference category for this analysis.
Cluster Results: Overall & Country Distrbution
The below table shows the overall results of the clusters (using an abbreviated version of the names for each segment, due to space limitations), including the “not interested,” group (though we will soon forget about them). Single topic users and “NO celebrities, community or government,” collectively represent over half of all respondents, and constitute around 60% of respondents in 6 of the 8 countries (with only Indonesia and India breaking from this trend).
“Experts/celebs/community,” also makes up a significant share of news users, at 19%. At the country level, this group is as large as 43% of internet users in Indonesia and as small as 7% in the United States.
“Super subscribers,” makes up 13% overall, but are the pluarity segment in India, constituting 43% of internet users there. India, though, is the exception, as this group falls between a narrow range of 5%-13% in other countries.
“Non-Google,” and “Not interested,” will be skipped over.
“Holding others accountable,” is a group we find intriguing – despite their small stature (proportionally speaking, of course). Overall, 4% of internet users cross the 8 countries are classified in the group, with the highest amount being 6% (in both the USA and UK).
| Segment Group | All countries | USA | UK | Germany | France | Brazil | Indonesia | India | Japan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single topic users | 28 | 29 | 27 | 25 | 34 | 42 | 28 | 19 | 17 |
| No celeb/community/gov | 25 | 28 | 37 | 37 | 29 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 38 |
| Experts/celeb/community | 19 | 7 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 26 | 43 | 26 | 13 |
| Super subscribers | 13 | 13 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 13 | 43 | 6 |
| Non-Google | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 18 |
| Not interested | 5 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Holding others accountable | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Given this country variation, what can be said about the relationship between the country of residence of an internet user and the cluster group they fall in? Is there even a relationship?
As a basic first step, a Pearson’s CHi-Square test for independence was performed on the two variables: country and news cluster group (the "not interested group was excluded from the analysis). The weighted counts were assessed, and the chi-square statistic computed (see below).
| Experts/celeb/community | No celeb/community/gov | Holding others accountable | Non-Google | Super subscribers | Single topic users | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 101.64 | 397.33 | 90.31 | 99.49 | 186.16 | 420.88 |
| UK | 153.14 | 519.66 | 85.28 | 77.57 | 106.60 | 376.40 |
| Germany | 182.27 | 519.38 | 56.80 | 77.92 | 136.96 | 353.75 |
| France | 208.32 | 404.16 | 75.31 | 86.20 | 64.79 | 475.06 |
| Brazil | 365.55 | 234.90 | 27.99 | 14.99 | 143.56 | 599.87 |
| Indonesia | 611.05 | 159.37 | 29.03 | 23.57 | 183.27 | 392.97 |
| India | 361.12 | 78.12 | 62.05 | 14.36 | 613.72 | 268.88 |
| Japan | 186.71 | 533.66 | 23.96 | 254.34 | 84.19 | 233.59 |
##
## Pearson's Chi-squared test
##
## data: chi.table
## X-squared = 3271.1, df = 35, p-value < 2.2e-16This test shows, then, that country and news cluster group are not independent of each other – they have a statistical relationship. We can see this more clearly by mapping the Pearson residuals, which tell us which cells (the intersection of a given row and column) contribute the most to the total Chi-square test. This is plotted below. Looking at the graph, it confirms a few observations:
- There is a strong positive association between India and super subscribers.
- A nearly as strong relationship is apparent with respect to Indonesia and “experts, celebrities and community news”.
- Japan and “Non-Google” exhibit a positive relationship as well.
- Though harder to see in the chart, there is a notable negative relationship with respect to Indonesia and India for “no celebrities, community or government.”
Digital platform usage
This section focuses on the Q1 series of the survey, which reads:
Q1. How often do you do each of the following to get the news? For the purpose of this survey, by “news” we mean any information you read, watch, or listen to that helps you stay informed about your interests, your community, and the world around you. This can include things like current events, local news, weather, sports, politics, entertainment news, celebrity news, etc.
Response options: 1) Never 2) Less than once a month 3) At least once per month 4) Once pers week 5) A few times per week 6) Daily 7) Several times a day
This analysis is updated to include all platforms asked about on this question series, with the exception of “friends and family.” Previously, “messaging apps,” had not been included due to a mistaken belief it was not asked in Japan (in fact, “email newsletters was not asked about it Japan). This has been addressed in this analysis. Though”email newsletters" was not asked about in one country (Japan), it is kept in for the definition of digital media usage.
Turning to how often the clusters use either ANY digital or traditional platforms (on at least a more than weekly basis), it is apparent all groups have high, bordering on universal rates of using digital news sources. Use of traditional sources is high, but in all cases lags behind digital usage.
Both “experts/celebrities/community news,” and “super subscribers” record the highest overall digital usage rate, with 98% using these platforms at least multiple times a week. However, “super subscribers,” are slightly more balanced in their platform usage – as 94% of this group also uses traditional platforms (essentially equal with its digital usage).
| Cluster | digital_user_weekly_plus | traditional_user_weekly_plus | digital_divide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Experts/celeb/community | 98 | 90 | 8 |
| Super subscribers | 98 | 94 | 4 |
| Non-Google | 92 | 86 | 6 |
| Holding others accountable | 91 | 81 | 10 |
| Single topic users | 89 | 79 | 10 |
| No celeb/community/gov | 84 | 83 | 1 |
Still these figures provide relatively limited information in terms of our main goal: finding meaningful, useful differences between the clusters. Below we look at how many digital and/or traditional devices each of the Google News clusters used on a more than weekly basis, again excluding the “not interested group.”
Note this analysis has been updated to include “messaging apps,” which, of course, has increased the average number of digital platforms for virtually all groups. This section of analysis was not widely seen as being very useful in terms of understanding the clusters, so this updated briefing will forego a detailed examination of the results.
| Cluster | digital_mean | trad_mean | digital_mean_centered | trad_mean_centered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experts/celeb/community | 7.24 | 1.88 | 72.40 | 62.76 |
| No celeb/community/gov | 3.01 | 1.47 | 30.13 | 48.89 |
| Holding others accountable | 5.52 | 1.66 | 55.15 | 55.32 |
| Non-Google | 4.38 | 1.59 | 43.79 | 52.87 |
| Super subscribers | 8.76 | 2.36 | 87.64 | 78.74 |
| Single topic users | 4.54 | 1.43 | 45.40 | 47.62 |
The next obvious question is which platforms are more popular with each group. Answering this question depends, to some degree, on how platform usage is measured – we have, in the past, focused on the percentage who said daily or more than daily and, more recently, the percentage who said “multiple times a week,” or more frequently.
However, this analysis requires a more nuanced approach in order to see the differences between the groups. As a result, the focus now turns to the average frequency rating each cluster collectively gave to each platform, on a 1 to 7 scale, with 1 representing “never,” and 7 representing “multiple times a day.” While this is not the most intuitive way of looking at the data, it guards against the loss of information often caused by categorization – necessary, as that process can be to ease interpretation.
Below the average frequency rating for each platform is shown on a cluster by cluster basis, but first a few general comments:
–This entire analysis has been updated to include messaging apps.
-Television is the most frequently used source across all groups, when ranked by the average frequency rating (indeed, television reigns supreme even if the focus shifts to the percentage who said “daily/more than daily” or “more than weekly”). This may seem surprising, given how digitally connected several of the Google news cluster groups are. However, the digital platform space is somewhat more fragmented than the traditional news mediums, especially television. This is not just an artiact of the survey – it reflects reality.
-Search engines where typically the second most frequently used source, ranking as a “2” in 4 of the 6 clusters Interestingly, the exceptions were “Holding others accountable,” and “Super subscribers,” both of whom had social media rank as number 2 (though the difference with search engines is not statistically significant, so we are speaking purely in nominal terms).
-The third most commonly used platform varied across the segments, with social media taking this place for 2 groups, search engines for another 2 groups, news websites for 1 and news aggregator for another 1 “No celebrities, community or government,” ranked news websites at number 3, while the “Non-Google,” group ranked news aggregators.
For reference: the overall rating score for each platform among respondents who are in one of the six clusters of interest (i.e. excluding the “not interested”) is:
-Television: 5.21
-Search engines: 4.48
-Social Media: 4.68
-News websites: 4.48
-Online videos: 4.19
-News aggregators: 4.08
-News apps: 4.05
-Messaging apps: 4.05
-Radio: 3.98
-Print newspapers: 3.79
-Text messaging: 3.56
-Email newsletters: 3.46
-Virtual Assistants: 3.24
-Podcasts: 3.08
Average platform usage: Experts, celebrities and community news
Note, these figures have been updated to includes “messaging apps”.
Looking at each segment, we first turn to “Experts, celebrities and community news”. As can be seen below, TV was, just marginally (though it is statistically significant), the most common platform for this group. From there, a number of digital sources are used about as frequently: search engine (5.43 average rating), social media (5.42 rating), online videos (5.29), news websites (5.2) and messaging apps (5.09).
News apps and news aggregators represent the next tier of platforms for this group, averaging at 4.88 or 4.82, indicating most respondents turn to these platforms on a weekly or “multiple times a week,” basis.
All other platforms are used less often, though most still receive a rating above “4,” again signaling the most common response was some sort of weekly usage. Podcasts and email newsletters trail behind the rest.
The median aggregate frequency rating for this group is 4.85, higher than all other groups except “super subscribers,” whom we trun to next.
Average Platform Usage: Super Subscribers
The chart below emphasizes how in-tune to the news this group is, or at least how many sources they consult and how frequently. While television is the top sources, there are six sources in total which have an average rating above 5.5, indicating the greatest amount of individuals said they used these platforms on a “more than weekly,” or “daily,” basis. These platforms include social media (5.64), search engines (5.61), online videos (5.58), news websites (5.57), news apps (5.55) and messaging apps (5.51).
Only radio and podcasts fall below the average rating of 5.
The median aggregate rating for this group is 5.47, the highest of all groups.
Average Platform Usage: Holding Others Accountable
The ratings for this group, for most platforms, tend to between “4” and just below “5,” indicating some level of weekly usage. Television is the most used, at 4.93; next is social media at 4.67. Search engines, news websites, news apps, online videos and messaging apps follow until we hit the next “traditional,” platform of radio (4.15). Virtual assistants and podcasts are at the bottom.
Overall median usage for this group is 4.16.
Average Platform Usage: Other Clusters
Below are the platform rating charts for the remaining clusters, ranked as above. Note, this has been updated to include messaging apps. For these groups, general usage falls, with the median frequency rating falling below 4.0. Television of course stays in front, for all groups – though it has a clear lead with the “no celebrities, community or government,” group relative to the other platforms. “Single topic users,” favor search engines and social media after television.
“Non Google,” interestingly uses search engines about as often as television, though they simply do not use Google search. Yahoo has the lead among the specified search engines asked about on the survey. **Also, “Non-Google” has several platforms near the top of its rankings which were less prominent among other groups, notably “virtual assistants” which places 4th, at least on a nominal basis, with a score of 3.98.
Follow-up analysis: Which search engines are the “Non-Google people using, if not Google?”
The Non-Google cluster is notable in that it has very high usage in getting news from search engines but the group does not use the most popular search engine: Google. Notably, this group is also concentrated in Japan, suggesting that usage of Google search engines is low. Is this the case?
First we will look at Japan. Google is widely used in Japan, with 73% saying they use it to search the news. However, that figure is notably below all other countries included in the survey. In Japan, the next most popular search engine is Yahoo at 61%.
As for the Non-Google group, they do not decisively flock to a single search engine. Nearly half use Yahoo (at 46%) and 24% use Safari. Bing is used by 13% – from there, no search engine does better than 10%.
New Analysis (Part 2): G7. How people generally prefer to get their news
G7 on the survey asks respondents: “Generally do you prefer to get your news by…?”:
- Reading about it (or not)
- Watching it (or not)
- Listening to it (or not)
- Do not read, watch or listen to news on a typical day
Respondents could select more than one option, with the exception of the “do not read, watch or listen,” choice.
Overall, 68 percent of respondents said they preferred to get their news by watching it. A slight majority, 53%, said they prefer to get news by reading it; 41% said they listened to their news.
The response pattern across the six segments of interest is broadly similar: “watching it” was the preferred mode, with reading always coming in second place. However, the degree of the disparity of the three modes varied considerably. Notably:
-Super Subscribers: A majority of people said they preferred getting their news from all three modes, including 75% who said watching, 62% who said reading and 57% who said listening. For the latter two, this was the highest amount of all groups.
-Experts/celebrities and community: Nominally the group that most likes watching the news, at 76%. Reading is high here as well, at 60%, however listening drops off at 47%. -Holding others accountable: Had the greatest degree of relative parity between the modes: 60% for watching, 51% for reading and 45% for listening.
-Single topic users and no celeb/community/government have very similar usage patterns. -Non-Google is the only segment where fewer than half say they want to read or listen to the news.
Slightly more than half of all respondents (51%) only said one mode (reading, watching or listening) when asked how they take their news. Another 24% prefer two modes; while 21% prefer all three modes.
Across the clusters, super subscribers and experts, celebrities and community are most prone to consult all three sources – and a majority at least named two options. However, in the remaining clusters, the greater percent said they prefer one mode (especially Non-Google).
| ind_category | Wording | None | One | Two | Three |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Super subscribers | Number of mode person prefers to get news by | 2 | 38 | 24 | 36 |
| Experts/celeb/community | Number of mode person prefers to get news by | 2 | 43 | 25 | 30 |
| Holding others accountable | Number of mode person prefers to get news by | 3 | 56 | 23 | 18 |
| No celeb/community/gov | Number of mode person prefers to get news by | 4 | 54 | 26 | 17 |
| Single topic users | Number of mode person prefers to get news by | 3 | 56 | 25 | 15 |
| Non-Google | Number of mode person prefers to get news by | 4 | 63 | 21 | 13 |
Overall, preference in terms of watching, reading or listening to the news does not demonstrate a significant relationship with propensity to use any digital products on a more than weekly basis or any traditional products on a more than weekly basis.
However if we look ONLY at respondents who fall into one of the six main segments (excluding the “not interested”), we do see, in general, interesting patterns with respect to an individual’s preference for getting news. This is reviewed now, first looking at “reading about it,” and then “watching,” and finally “listening.”
Prefer to get news by reading about it & platform preferences
Across the six clusters, individuals who said they preferred to get their news by “reading about it,” (regardless if they also selected another mode) are consistently more likely to use key digital products on a more than weekly than basis than people who do not say this: including news websites (difference of 19 points compared to people who did not say this); news apps )16 points); news aggregators (13 points) and search engines. Overall, this groups’s usage is higher than people who did not select this option across most platforms, but the differences are smaller for text messaging, television, virtual assistants and podcasts.
| Preference_Type | Wording | Yes | No | difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading about it | News websites: more than weekly use for news | 68 | 49 | 19 |
| Reading about it | Print newspapers: more than weekly use for news | 51 | 34 | 17 |
| Reading about it | News apps: more than weekly use for news | 59 | 43 | 16 |
| Reading about it | News aggregators: More than weekly use for news | 57 | 44 | 13 |
| Reading about it | Search engines: More than weekly use for news | 68 | 58 | 10 |
| Reading about it | Email newsletters: More than weekly use for the news | 42 | 33 | 9 |
| Reading about it | Social media: more than weekly use for news | 64 | 57 | 7 |
| Reading about it | Radio: More than weekly use for news | 52 | 45 | 7 |
| Reading about it | Online video platforms: More than weekly use for the news | 57 | 51 | 6 |
| Reading about it | Messaging apps: More than weekly use for the news | 54 | 49 | 5 |
| Reading about it | Podcasts: More than weekly use for the news | 32 | 28 | 4 |
| Reading about it | Virtual assistants: More than weekly use for the news | 37 | 33 | 4 |
| Reading about it | TV: more than weekly use for news | 78 | 74 | 4 |
| Reading about it | Text messaging: More than weekly use for the news | 42 | 39 | 3 |
Prefer to get the news by watching it
Most respondents said they preferred to get their news by “watching it.” Across, the six clusters, people who said this (even if they said they preferred other options as well) were far more likely to use visual-based platforms on a more than weekly basis, notably television (+19) and online video platforms (18 point difference). Still, other platforms which are not necessarily video-based were used more frequently by people who prefer to get their news by watching it compared to those who do not – such as search engines (13 point gap), news apps (13 points), messaging apps (13 points) and social media (12).
| Preference_Type | Wording | Yes | No | difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watching it | TV: more than weekly use for news | 82 | 63 | 19 |
| Watching it | Online video platforms: More than weekly use for the news | 60 | 42 | 18 |
| Watching it | Search engines: More than weekly use for news | 68 | 55 | 13 |
| Watching it | News apps: more than weekly use for news | 55 | 42 | 13 |
| Watching it | Messaging apps: More than weekly use for the news | 56 | 43 | 13 |
| Watching it | Social media: more than weekly use for news | 65 | 53 | 12 |
| Watching it | News aggregators: More than weekly use for news | 54 | 43 | 11 |
| Watching it | Print newspapers: more than weekly use for news | 46 | 37 | 9 |
| Watching it | News websites: more than weekly use for news | 62 | 54 | 8 |
| Watching it | Text messaging: More than weekly use for the news | 43 | 36 | 7 |
| Watching it | Virtual assistants: More than weekly use for the news | 37 | 30 | 7 |
| Watching it | Email newsletters: More than weekly use for the news | 40 | 34 | 6 |
| Watching it | Podcasts: More than weekly use for the news | 32 | 26 | 6 |
| Watching it | Radio: More than weekly use for news | 48 | 50 | -2 |
Prefer to get news by listening to it
Finally, we turn to the least common of the three modes. Of people who only selected 1 mode overall to get their news, just 29% said “listening to it” (compared to 49% for watching and 29% for reading). So most people who said they prefer to LISTEN to the news said this response in conjunction with something else.
Nonetheless there are distinct patterns for people who did say the prefer to get their news by listening compared to not doing so: “radio,” is 23 percentage points more popular (among the six clusters), while oddly so is “text messaging.” Podcasts are 12 points more popular with this group than those who do not prefer to get their news by listening to it, but still only 37% of “news listeners,” say they get their news via podcasts on a more a than weekly basis.
| Preference_Type | Wording | Yes | No | difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listening to it | Radio: More than weekly use for news | 62 | 39 | 23 |
| Listening to it | Text messaging: More than weekly use for the news | 48 | 35 | 13 |
| Listening to it | Email newsletters: More than weekly use for the news | 45 | 32 | 13 |
| Listening to it | Print newspapers: more than weekly use for news | 51 | 38 | 13 |
| Listening to it | News aggregators: More than weekly use for news | 58 | 46 | 12 |
| Listening to it | Podcasts: More than weekly use for the news | 37 | 25 | 12 |
| Listening to it | Virtual assistants: More than weekly use for the news | 42 | 30 | 12 |
| Listening to it | News apps: more than weekly use for news | 58 | 47 | 11 |
| Listening to it | News websites: more than weekly use for news | 65 | 55 | 10 |
| Listening to it | Search engines: More than weekly use for news | 69 | 60 | 9 |
| Listening to it | Online video platforms: More than weekly use for the news | 59 | 50 | 9 |
| Listening to it | Messaging apps: More than weekly use for the news | 56 | 48 | 8 |
| Listening to it | TV: more than weekly use for news | 81 | 73 | 8 |
| Listening to it | Social media: more than weekly use for news | 65 | 58 | 7 |
Time of Day Analysis
The survey asks respondents who said that they used any of the given news platforms at least once a month the following question:
-Q8: In a typical day, do you get new from [NEWS PLATFORM] while doing each of the following (yes or no):
- While getting ready for the day
- While commuting to or from work
- While working or at school
- While taking a break from work or school
- While exercising
- When you are passing time (e.g. waiting in line, waiting for an appointment, waiting for a meeting to begin)
- During a meal
- While relaxing
- Before going to sleep
This analysis has been modified to now show the overall patterns of people who who are using these platforms on a more than monthly basis across the 9 seperate instances they could do so.
The figure below shows these overall results by platform. Notable patterns:
The most popular times of the day to use ANY platform include getting ready for the day (cross-platform average of 57%), taking a break (52%), relaxing (65%) and going to sleep (65%).
The platforms used the most frequently throughout the day include messaging apps (average of 63% using it for any given time), social media (60%), online videos (55%), text messaging (54%) and podcasts (50%). These are not necessarily the most frequently used sources overall to get the news, but they are the most frequently consulted throughout the day.
Topic of Interest
The Google News survey asks the following question:
T1. Generally, which of the following news topics do you consume most frequently? (Please select up to 3 options)
- World/International News
- Business, finance and the economy
- National news
- Politics and government
- State and regional news
- Crime and public safety
- Education
- Local news
- Sports
- Entertainment, pop culture and celebrity
- Science and Technology
- Health
- Environment
- Human interest
- Lifestyle topics such as food, exercise or parenting
Overall, local news and world/international news were the topics drawing the greatest amount of interest across the eight countries, at 35% and 33% a piece. Sports, regional news and entertainment/celebrity/pop culture all registered around 20% support.
However, there is interesting variation by cluster.
Demographic & Other variables
We finally look at demographic traits as well as other variables with respect to these clusters.
In terms of demographics, notable patterns include:
Gender Most groups lean male, in part due to the overall sample. Super subscribers are especially likely to be men; experts, community and celebrities also leans quite male.
Age cohort Experts, celebrities and community, as well as holding others accountable and single topic users are quire young. Super subscribers are slightly more middle-aged, while the remaining groups skew older (26% of “Non-Google” are 55+).
Educational attainment Super subscribers are very likely to have a high level of education, at 50%.
Pay, donate or subscribe for news Of course, super subscribers are 100% here, but it is notable that holding others accountable are fairly high at 47%. Unlike super subscribers, the "holding others accountable do not necessarily subscribe, but pay for content in other ways (such as donations or membership).
Technology ownership Again, super subscribers are high across the board, but interesting variation includes “holding others accountable,” – 58% of whom have internet counnected speakers.
| Wording | dep_category | Experts/celeb/community | No celeb/community/gov | Holding others accountable | Non-Google | Super subscribers | Single topic users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combined 8-country results | Overall | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| D1: What is your gender (recoded) | Male | 59 | 51 | 60 | 50 | 68 | 41 |
| D1: What is your gender (recoded) | Female | 40 | 49 | 39 | 49 | 32 | 58 |
| Age cohort of respondent (4-categories) | 18-24 | 35 | 15 | 33 | 23 | 28 | 32 |
| Age cohort of respondent (4-categories) | 25-39 | 31 | 18 | 28 | 21 | 48 | 26 |
| Age cohort of respondent (4-categories) | 40-54 | 23 | 33 | 27 | 29 | 19 | 21 |
| Age cohort of respondent (4-categories) | 55+ | 11 | 35 | 11 | 26 | 5 | 21 |
| Educational attainment standardized | Low | 20 | 26 | 18 | 35 | 13 | 23 |
| Educational attainment standardized | Medium | 48 | 47 | 41 | 36 | 36 | 49 |
| Educational attainment standardized | High | 31 | 27 | 39 | 29 | 50 | 28 |
| Person either subscribes, pays or donates for news | 0 | 70 | 87 | 53 | 67 | NA | 79 |
| Person either subscribes, pays or donates for news | 1 | 30 | 13 | 47 | 33 | 100 | 21 |
| D4xr1: Desktop computer - Please indicate whether or not you have any of the following electronic devices in your household. | Yes | 59 | 47 | 66 | 54 | 85 | 50 |
| D4xr2: Laptop computer - Please indicate whether or not you have any of the following electronic devices in your household. | Yes | 80 | 75 | 80 | 76 | 86 | 75 |
| D4xr3: Tablet - Please indicate whether or not you have any of the following electronic devices in your household. | Yes | 51 | 52 | 63 | 59 | 74 | 50 |
| D4xr4: Smartphone (e.g., a phone that accesses the internet and allows you to use apps) - Please indicate whether or not you have any of the following electronic devices in your household. | Yes | 97 | 95 | 92 | 87 | 93 | 96 |
| Employment status of respondent | Full-time employed | 51 | 44 | 56 | 46 | 74 | 40 |
| Employment status of respondent | Part-time employed | 17 | 14 | 12 | 17 | 12 | 16 |
| Employment status of respondent | Unemployed | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| Employment status of respondent | Student | 13 | 5 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| Employment status of respondent | Not in workforce | 10 | 30 | 14 | 25 | 5 | 22 |
Key Attitudes about the news
Results below. Super subscribers show the greatest interest in the news and respect for the media. Interestingly, all groups describe themselves seeking different number of sources, despite evidence to the contrary from our survey.
| Wording | dep_category | Experts/celeb/community | No celeb/community/gov | Holding others accountable | Non-Google | Super subscribers | Single topic users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T4: Which of the following statements best describes how you prefer to get your news: | I prefer to go to one source to get news on a wide variety of topics such as world/international news, political, financ | 45 | 48 | 47 | 51 | 49 | 46 |
| T4: Which of the following statements best describes how you prefer to get your news: | I prefer to get different types of news from different sources that specialize in a specific topic. | 55 | 52 | 53 | 49 | 51 | 54 |
| G2: In general, how interested are you in the news? For the purpose of this survey, by ‘’news’’ we mean any information you read, watch, or listen to that helps you stay informed about your interests, your community,… | Not at all interested | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| G2: In general, how interested are you in the news? For the purpose of this survey, by ‘’news’’ we mean any information you read, watch, or listen to that helps you stay informed about your interests, your community,… | Not very interested | 2 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 5 |
| G2: In general, how interested are you in the news? For the purpose of this survey, by ‘’news’’ we mean any information you read, watch, or listen to that helps you stay informed about your interests, your community,… | Moderately interested | 22 | 42 | 26 | 40 | 9 | 36 |
| G2: In general, how interested are you in the news? For the purpose of this survey, by ‘’news’’ we mean any information you read, watch, or listen to that helps you stay informed about your interests, your community,… | Very interested | 45 | 36 | 40 | 29 | 35 | 42 |
| G2: In general, how interested are you in the news? For the purpose of this survey, by ‘’news’’ we mean any information you read, watch, or listen to that helps you stay informed about your interests, your community,… | Extremely interested | 31 | 17 | 24 | 19 | 52 | 17 |
| G5: What is your overall opinion of the news media in [QCOUNTRY] today? | Very unfavorable | 5 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 8 |
| G5: What is your overall opinion of the news media in [QCOUNTRY] today? | Somewhat unfavorable | 16 | 19 | 17 | 16 | 7 | 19 |
| G5: What is your overall opinion of the news media in [QCOUNTRY] today? | Neutral | 25 | 33 | 23 | 34 | 11 | 29 |
| G5: What is your overall opinion of the news media in [QCOUNTRY] today? | Somewhat favorable | 36 | 32 | 34 | 35 | 27 | 31 |
| G5: What is your overall opinion of the news media in [QCOUNTRY] today? | Very favorable | 19 | 7 | 18 | 8 | 51 | 12 |
| G8: Thinking about the past 7 days, how much time did you typically spend reading, watching or listening to news each day? | Less than 15 minutes | 5 | 15 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 12 |
| G8: Thinking about the past 7 days, how much time did you typically spend reading, watching or listening to news each day? | 15 - 29 minutes | 19 | 24 | 20 | 26 | 15 | 25 |
| G8: Thinking about the past 7 days, how much time did you typically spend reading, watching or listening to news each day? | 30 - 59 minutes | 27 | 26 | 31 | 28 | 25 | 26 |
| G8: Thinking about the past 7 days, how much time did you typically spend reading, watching or listening to news each day? | 1 hour to less than 2 hours | 25 | 18 | 20 | 21 | 23 | 18 |
| G8: Thinking about the past 7 days, how much time did you typically spend reading, watching or listening to news each day? | 2 hours to less than 3 hours | 10 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 15 | 8 |
| G8: Thinking about the past 7 days, how much time did you typically spend reading, watching or listening to news each day? | 3 hours or more | 14 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 17 | 10 |
| G8: Thinking about the past 7 days, how much time did you typically spend reading, watching or listening to news each day? | Did not read, watch or listen to news in the past 7 days | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Where to turn for breaking news
Notably, both “experts/celebs/community,” and “super subscribers,” “holding others accountable” turn to social media at least as often as TV if not more often for breaking news (single topic users also share this trait).
| Wording | dep_category | Experts/celeb/community | No celeb/community/gov | Holding others accountable | Non-Google | Super subscribers | Single topic users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T3q1: Television - Typically, where do you first hear about a breaking news story ? | Selected | 45 | 47 | 31 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| T3q2: Social media - Typically, where do you first hear about a breaking news story ? | Selected | 46 | 24 | 37 | 17 | 47 | 39 |
| T3q3: Search engines - Typically, where do you first hear about a breaking news story ? | Selected | 29 | 17 | 23 | 21 | 35 | 21 |
| T3q4: Print newspapers or magazines - Typically, where do you first hear about a breaking news story ? | Selected | 12 | 6 | 12 | 11 | 25 | 8 |
| T3q5: News websites- Typically, where do you first hear about a breaking news story ? | Selected | 30 | 18 | 23 | 18 | 40 | 22 |
| T3q6: Radio - Typically, where do you first hear about a breaking news story ? | Selected | 15 | 22 | 20 | 14 | 18 | 18 |
| T3q7: Online video platforms Typically, where do you first hear about a breaking news story ? | Selected | 27 | 9 | 21 | 9 | 35 | 17 |
| T3q8: News apps- Typically, where do you first hear about a breaking news story ? | Selected | 24 | 15 | 21 | 12 | 38 | 16 |
| T3q9: News aggregators - Typically, where do you first hear about a breaking news story ? | Selected | 18 | 14 | 19 | 16 | 34 | 11 |