Newspaper, notebook with pen, cell phone, coffee mug and sunglasses on a wooden table.

Reuters Institute Digital News Report

The annual international representative survey conducted by the Reuters Institute in Oxford examines news usage and reveals general trends and national characteristics of developments. The Leibniz Institute for Media Research is conducting the German part of the study.

In addition to traditional media, the current media landscape is characterized by many stationary and mobile devices that enable access to news information at any time and any place via the Internet. The content and forms of offerings available as a result are just as diverse as their providers. Since 2012, the Oxford-based Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has been investigating the impact of these developments on the population’s information-oriented use of media as part of the Reuters Institute Digital News Survey. The focus lies on the following questions: How important are individual devices, providers and forms of news? How do people search for and find news? And how is the willingness to pay for news on the Internet developing?

Current Findings

The international and German reports for the year 2026 were published on June 16, 2026.

The 2023 study was conducted simultaneously in the following countries under the coordination of the Oxford (UK) based Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile1, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States. This was done to identify general trends as well as national characteristics.

About 2,000 people were surveyed per country in 2023. The eleventh repetition of the study is based on the answers of 93,895 respondents from 46 countries on six continents. The fieldwork was carried out by the polling institute YouGov in January 2023.

Since 2013, the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut has been the collaborating partner responsible for the German contribution. In 2023, the survey was funded by the State Media Authorities and Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF).

The findings of each year for Germany are published as working papers.

About the Study

Since 2012, the Reuters Institute Digital News Survey has annually examined general trends and national differences in news consumption through representative surveys in what has now grown to 48 countries. Coordinated by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, based in Oxford (UK), the study is conducted simultaneously in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Canada, Kenya, Colombia, Croatia, Malaysia, Morocco, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Austria, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary, and the United States.

Approximately 2,000 people were surveyed in each country in 2026. In its 14th edition, the study is based on responses from nearly 100,000 participants from 48 countries across six continents.

Key thematic focuses in the 2026 survey wave included news influencers and the handling of original sources in news encountered through social media, search engines, and AI-generated responses.

Fieldwork in Germany was conducted by the survey institute YouGov between January 9 and January 22, 2026, using online access panels to draw samples representative of internet users aged 18 and older in participating countries.

The findings on Germany are published as HBI working papers.

Findings from Previous Years

2025

2024

2023

2022

The international and the German report 2022 were published in London on 15 June 2022.

2021

The international and the German report 2021 were published in London on 23 June 2021.

2020

The international as well as the German Report 2020 were published on 16 June 2020.

The surveys in Germany were conducted between 17 and 30 January 2020 by the survey institute YouGov prior to the COVID19 pandemic. In a separate study, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism conducted a supplementary survey on specific news usage under COVID-19 conditions. The findings of this survey are presented in several parts of the German report.

2019

The international as well as the German Report 20191 were published on 12 June 2019 in London and Athens.

On the occasion of the publication of a special analysis by the Reuters Institute, a controversy broke out in September 2019 over the alleged statement that the political centre no longer looks “heute [today]” and “Tagesschau.” This was published by the magazine ÜBERMEDIEN on 18 September 2019 under the title “Linke Programme für ein linkes Publikum? Was die Reuters-Studie wirklich zeigt“ [Left-Wing Programmes for a Left-Wing Audience? What the Reuters Study Really Shows”].
Also in the magazine ÜBERMEDIEN the article  “So links ist das Publikum von „Tagesschau“ und „heute“ wirklich“ [“That’s How Left-Wing the Audience of “Tagesschau” and “heute” Really Is”] was published on 26 November 2019. It is based on a statement that Prof. Dr. Uwe Hasebrink and Dr. Sascha Hölig, the authors of the German part of the study, had made with regard to “die Rolle öffentlich-rechtlicher Nachrichten beim Nachrichtenpublikum“ [The Role of Public News Regarding the News Audience] (pdf) on 21 October 2019.

2018

The international as well as the German report of 2018 was published on 14 June 2018 in London, New York and Berlin.

2017

  • Ergebnisse des „Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2017″ für Deutschland (Working Papers of the Hans-Bredow-Institut, No. 42; pdf)
  • Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2017 (Report in English, pdf-Datei)

2016

  • Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2016 (Report in English, pdf)
  • Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2016 Ergebnisse für Deutschland (pdf), published as Working Papers of the Hans-Bredow-Institut, No. 38

2015

  • Digital News Report 2015 (Report in English, pdf)
  • Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2016: Ergebnisse für Deutschland (pdf), published as Working Papers of the Hans-Bredow-Institut, No. 34

2014

  • Digital News Report 2014 (Report in English, pdf)
  • Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2014: Ergebnisse für Deutschland (pdf)

2013

Project details

Overview

Start of the term: 2013; End of term: 2024

Research programme: RP 1 Transformation of Public Communication

Persons involved

Co-operation partners

Contact person

Sascha Hölig

Dr. Sascha Hölig

Senior Researcher Media Usage

Leibniz Institute for Media Research, Hans-Bredow-Institut
Warburgstraße 30b
20354 Hamburg

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