The American citizens have shifted their focus to acquiring their news mainly using social media instead of using the traditional media channels, thus changing the dynamics of influence and credibility of the media & entertainment industry.

A Reuters Institute report released this week shows that social media and video portals have formally supplanted traditional channels to become the most popular outlets of news in the United States. It is now more than 54 percent of the Americans who regularly use platforms such as Facebook, X (previously Twitter), and YouTube as opposed to TV (50%) and news sites (48%).

The report marking a critical transition in the media & entertainment industry, notes that individual-driven content is gaining a greater share against institutional journalism. Podcaster Joe Rogan became a saturating media & entertainment brand; two in ten survey respondents stated that they were exposed to his material weekly.

The author of the report, Nic Newman underlined the fact that the emergence of social videos represents an increasing challenge to legacy media. Furthermore, the report notes that inaccurate or biased information is contagious, with about 46.9 percent of the participants citing influencers and personalities as common sources of fake or misleading news equivalent to politicians.

Following the acquisition of X by Elon Musk in 2022, right-leaning users have been flocking to the site but competitors such as Threads and Bluesky have failed to gain serious ground worldwide.

The results emphasize that there has been a fundamental shift in media and entertainment consumption habits, especially among younger viewers who are flocking toward TikTok and AI news tools.

In their transformation of informational patterns, digital personalities subject the media & entertainment industry to an increased pressure to maintain credibility and conformity with a new era of news delivery.