"Where Do You Get Your News?"

Outsell, an information-industry research firm, has just published a handy roadmap for media execs - research about news-gathering habits of 2800 Americans, by age, income, and more. We believe these results are another indication of the shift of most Americans, especially youth, to online and interactive sources.

The summary chart below (click for a larger version) shows some clear conclusions: Only older media consumers still look to deadwood papers as their primary source of news; radio is holding its own in the 30-49 group (likely because this group represents the bulk of workers, and workers commute); Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL (GYMA) have grabbed a significant share of those below 40 (and as subway systems go wireless, will likely do further battle for commuters' mindshare); the number of magazines in certain subject areas will decline in the coming years, as its audience shrinks as print newspaper's does; and - surprising to some but not to others - that the Internet has become the mass-media product that print newspapers used to be, reaching youth and middle-aged readers.

We'll be writing more about this study in the coming days.