By the Numbers: Explaining the splintered media landscape in one chart

It is true to the point of cliché to say that the media landscape has shifted so hard it has become unrecognizable. Long gone are the days when families would gather before one of the Big 3 networks for the evening news or crack open a daily newspaper over the breakfast table.

Now, 21% of Americans get at least part of their news from news influencers, which Pew Research defines simply as people with large followings who regularly post about news and politics. That number leaps up to 37% when we consider only those 18-29 years old, indicating this trend is here to stay as these news consumers continue to age.

But which news influencer these consumers turn to can vary widely, to the point that there is absolutely no consensus on who is the most influential of them all.

Here’s what Pew Research found:

Let’s break this chart down, because there are several notable features PR professionals need to keep an eye on.

First, Pew Research only asked this question of those who answered they get at least part of their news from news influencers. So, everyone who answered this question had at least some familiarity with the concept. And yet 42% would not or could not name a single news influencer. Keep in mind they weren’t being asked to name the most popular or biggest influencer — just any that popped into their head. And yet 42% still had nothing. This indicates that even though the concept of news influencers is growing in popularity, there still may be low name recognition. This could be due to algorithmically driven platforms like TikTok, where users may not follow or recall the names of news influencers even as they are served — and watch — this kind of content.

Zooming in on the 50% who did name an influencer, there was very little consensus on which influencers were named. Pew reported only those influencers whose names were mentioned by at least 1% of respondents — and doing some math indicates that 25% of respondents named someone who got less than 1% of the vote. We are dealing with a marketplace of hyper-niche influencers who may hold tremendous sway among their own audience — and be entirely unknown outside of it.

This makes the job of a PR professional fighting to reach large audiences difficult. The kind of mass-market appeal that news stations once had simply no longer exists in 2025. Yet it also increases the importance of targeting specific audiences — not men, but white men aged 18-24 who are interested in cars, for instance. The more tactically you identify your audience, the more you’ll be able to reap the rewards.

In case you aren’t familiar with all these influencers, here’s a quick rundown:

• Phillip DeFranco: A YouTuber hosting a Monday-Thursday talk show focusing on news and pop culture.
• Tucker Carlson: A former Fox News host who began his own conservative media empire.
• Ben Shapiro: A conservative lawyer and political pundit.
• Carlos Eduardo Espina: A Uruguayan American with a large following across social media who broadcasts primarily in Spanish and focuses heavily on immigration issues.
• Donald Trump: You probably know him.
• Dan Bongino: A conservative commentator.
• MrBeast: The most popular YouTuber in the world, though notably, he does not post on news or political topics.
• Joe Rogan: An influential podcast host.
• Tim Pool: A conservative podcast host.
• Candace Owens: A conservative political commentator.
• Dylan Page: A social media news commentator and comedian.
• HasanAbi: A liberal, Turkish-American Twitch streamer and news commentator.
• Brian Tyler Cohen: A progressive YouTube news commentator.
• Elon Musk: You probably know him, too.
• Lisa Remillard: A liberal social media newscaster.
• Stephen Crowder: Another former Fox News host turned conservative pundit.
• Kai Cenat: A Twitch streamer who specializes primarily in video games and comedy.

This list poses a number of challenges for PR professionals seeking a partner to get their message across. The majority are explicitly partisan, requiring organizations to more or less declare their allegiance to participate in any non-advertising way on these channels — a choice some organizations may not be willing to make. And some members of this list, despite the perception, are not news influencers at all — for instance, MrBeast is decidedly apolitical in his content that focuses on gameshow-style antics.

So what’s a PR professional to do?

Make the best choices for your organization. Research. Understand the perception inside and outside their sphere of influence. And understand that there will be no one-size-fits-all influencer. You’ll have to go microaudience by microaudience.

Good luck.

For more on the latest digital trends, attend Ragan’s Social Media Conference at Walt Disney World from March 19-21. You can find more details on the event website.

Allison Carter is editorial director of PR Daily and Ragan.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.