The landscape of digital news consumption in India is in the midst of a sweeping transformation. At the heart of this evolution lies a generation increasingly tethered to mobile screens, social media feeds, and artificial intelligence.
The Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2025 paints a vivid picture of a country grappling with the promises and pitfalls of new media, reflecting a complex dance between technological innovation, audience behaviour, media ownership, and press freedom.
India’s media ecosystem remains paradoxical — on the one hand, deeply traditional and reliant on television and print, and on the other, increasingly shaped by mobile-first, video-heavy, social content.
Despite a challenging press freedom climate and concentrated media ownership, digital consumption has soared, driven largely by young, mobile-savvy Indians navigating a volatile information environment.
YouTube has emerged as the undisputed king of news platforms in India, with 55% of respondents citing it as a key news source. The platform’s appeal lies not only in its ease of use and mobile accessibility but also in the rise of independent content creators such as Dhruv Rathee and Ravish Kumar, who blend commentary with credibility. These creators have become household names, especially during high-stakes events like general elections. The draw is evident: authenticity, accessibility, and a direct connection to audiences disillusioned with partisan television debates or sterile print headlines.
India also leads globally in the use of AI chatbots for news consumption. About 18% of Indian respondents say they use tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini weekly to access news, and nearly half (44%) are comfortable with news being produced mostly by AI with some human oversight. This is significantly higher than in Western markets such as the UK, where only 3% reported using chatbots and just 11% felt comfortable with AI-produced news. This suggests that Indian audiences, particularly younger ones, are more open to innovation in news production – provided it helps simplify information delivery, enhances accessibility, and doesn’t compromise trust.
Interestingly, India also topped the global list for audience interest in AI-driven features that adapt news for different reading levels. This preference is likely reflective of India’s linguistic diversity and varying literacy levels, especially outside major urban centres.
Many survey participants expressed a desire for tools that could personalise content, suggesting that the future of Indian news might be less about breaking stories and more about making them understandable to a wider audience.
However, this enthusiasm for AI and digital platforms comes with caveats. The same report flags that many users believe AI-generated news could become cheaper and more up-to-date, but also worry it may be less accurate, transparent, or trustworthy. This aligns with broader concerns about misinformation, especially on platforms like WhatsApp, which 53% of respondents in India identified as a major source of false or misleading content – the highest among all surveyed countries.
The issue of trust is particularly acute in India’s highly polarised media environment. While overall trust in news stands at 43%, positioning India at 17 out of 48 markets, the perception of individual brands varies dramatically.
Legacy outlets like The Times of India and Hindustan Times command relatively high trust scores (69%), while outlets such as Republic TV and Scroll.in score much lower. Notably, public broadcasters like All India Radio and DD India still enjoy considerable credibility, proving that institutional heritage still carries weight amidst digital disruption.
Yet this trust is being tested. India’s press freedom ranking stands at a dismal 151 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index, with a score of just 32.96.
Media ownership remains heavily concentrated, often aligned with business interests sympathetic to the ruling party. Independent journalists and organisations that challenge dominant narratives frequently find themselves under legal scrutiny, subject to online harassment, or squeezed out of financial ecosystems.
The report notes that the website of Tamil-language outlet Vikatan was blocked after publishing content critical of the government, and independent journalist Mukesh Chandrakar was allegedly murdered in Chhattisgarh for exposing local corruption.
Despite these risks, digital-native, adversarial platforms are not backing down. Entities like The Wire, Scroll.in, NewsLaundry, Caravan, and The News Minute joined forces in 2024 to cover elections collaboratively via ad-free, donation-supported YouTube broadcasts. These partnerships now extend into podcasting and investigative reporting – an encouraging sign of resilience and innovation in India’s independent media sphere.
Social media remains the battleground for both engagement and misinformation. While Facebook continues to be a widely used platform for news (36% of users), its influence appears to be waning. Instagram (37%) and Telegram (22%) are rising among younger users. Meta’s recent announcement to end its third-party fact-checking programme in the US raised alarm bells in India, where similar partnerships help battle misinformation and offer financial support to small outlets.
Uncertainty now looms over whether Meta’s Indian partners will also be sidelined or replaced with tools like “Community Notes” with unclear transparency and editorial rigour.
Television, once the mainstay of Indian news, is slowly ceding ground to digital formats. Channels like Mirror Now are reportedly shutting down due to financial stress, even as its parent company Times Now continues to retain viewership. This shift underlines a wider trend – news brands, even legacy ones, must rethink their digital strategies to stay relevant.
Some are adapting quickly. Dainik Bhaskar, for example, maintains a solid presence both in print (18%) and online (16%), while newer digital-only platforms like The Print and The News Minute are carving out their own audience niches.
As audiences gravitate toward video-based storytelling, creators on YouTube are stepping in to fill the void left by traditional broadcasters. The success of personalities like BeerBiceps, known more for lifestyle but increasingly dabbling in political commentary, reflects an important shift in how information is consumed: audiences no longer rely solely on “newsrooms” but seek out “personalities” who they believe reflect their values.
This shift also brings generational tensions into sharper focus. Older Indians may still prefer the morning newspaper or nightly TV bulletin, but younger audiences overwhelmingly prefer online formats. While 76% of Indian respondents use smartphones for news, only 57% use computers, underscoring the mobile-first nature of digital journalism in India.
The future of Indian news, then, is being shaped at the intersection of access, attention, and algorithm. AI technologies offer great promise to make journalism more efficient and accessible. But the challenge lies in preserving editorial integrity, enhancing transparency, and ensuring that technology serves people rather than manipulating them.
There are also looming risks. Overreliance on platform-driven traffic, volatile algorithm changes, and the decline of ad revenue threaten the sustainability of quality journalism. If newsrooms cannot find financially viable models – especially for investigative and public-interest reporting – there’s a risk of widening the gap between content that is viral and content that is vital.
India’s digital news journey in 2025 is as vibrant as it is volatile. It is a landscape of rapid adoption, technological ambition, and grassroots resilience. While structural concerns over press freedom, misinformation, and ownership loom large, the country’s young, curious, and increasingly vocal online audience could still prove to be journalism’s strongest ally – if their trust is earned and maintained.
Ultimately, India’s media story is far from over. It is being written in code and hashtags, across screens big and small, by journalists, creators, coders, and everyday citizens alike. In a nation of 1.4 billion, where every voice counts but not every voice is heard, digital news in 2025 stands both as a promise and a battleground – for truth, for trust, and for the future of democracy itself.
