33% of TV News Audiences Are Watching More Coverage After Election of Donald Trump, New Crowd React Media Shows

A common conception after the election of Donald Trump is that TV news consumers are turning away from coverage. New data from Crowd React Media shows the opposite.

In its inaugural State of TV News study, Crowd React Media data shows that 33% of news audiences say they are watching more news coverage than before Election Day 2024. Additionally, 55% of respondents said they are watching the same amount of news.

Only 12% of news consumers are watching less news than previously.

Additionally, the study shows a much more dedicated audience for cable news than streaming television consumers.

31% of those surveyed said they watch eight hours or more of cable television per day. 26% said they watched 4-8 hours per day, meaning 57% watch at least four hours of cable TV each day.

Streaming TV users, however, reported much different habits. 48% of those viewers watched at least 4 hours per day, with those watching eight or more hours and between four and eight hours being evenly distributed at 24%. Younger audiences, those in the 18-34 demographic, were most likely to watch eight or more hours of cable/satellite TV per day at 37%.

94% of linear television audiences say they watch the local news. That outpaces those who utilize streaming platforms, with only 76% of audiences saying they watch local news broadcasts. Of those streaming audiences that watch local news, a whopping 74% said they view the segments on YouTube. Only 59% of respondents said they watch national news content on YouTube.

“All audiences nowadays are effectively digital natives, and local outlets need a strategy to maximize their digital/streaming footprint,” the company said.

The State of TV News study by Crowd React Media, a division of Harker Bos Group, was conducted between December 2024 and January 2025. It included more than 500 television news audiences across the country with a balanced representation of men and women aged 18 and up, with the sample size weighted to U.S. census data.

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