TikTok overtakes TV for Gen Z
Pew finds North American 18–29‑year‑olds now turn to TikTok and Google Search before TV for breaking news and everyday info — the phone is the primary gateway for this cohort. That rewires where young people discover deadlines, scholarships, and campus culture, and it elevates short‑form video as a primary admissions channel. (ad-hoc-news.de)
Pew’s new Pew‑Knight survey (fielded Dec. 8–14, 2025) finds 36% of U.S. adults typically turn first to their preferred news organization for breaking news, while 28% go to search engines, 19% to social media, 5% to people they know and just 1% to AI chatbots. (pewresearch.org)) Among age groups, Pew reports that 31% of adults under 30 say they turn to social media first for breaking news, compared with 6% of adults 65 and older. (pewresearch.org)) Pew’s platform research shows about 63% of U.S. adults under 30 use TikTok and, separately, that roughly 52% of TikTok users say they regularly get news on the app; combining those two Pew figures implies roughly one‑third (≈33%) of adults under 30 regularly get news on TikTok (this combined figure is an inference from the two Pew reports). (pewresearch.org)) Industry write‑ups of Pew data put TikTok at the top among younger social‑media news consumers — reporting 43% of 18–29 social‑media users said they consumed news regularly on TikTok versus 41% on YouTube/Facebook and 40% on Instagram in the cited Pew breakdown. (mediapost.com)) Pew’s News Platform and mobile fact sheets show digital devices dominate: 86% of U.S. adults say they often or sometimes get news from a smartphone, tablet or computer, and Pew’s mobile data finds roughly nine‑in‑ten adults own a cellphone/smartphone — together these figures support the conclusion that smartphones serve as the cohort’s primary gateway to news and campus info (this is an inference from Pew’s device and platform data). (pewresearch.org)) Higher‑education marketers are already responding: TikTok case studies and industry analyses document universities using short‑form video for recruitment (TikTok for Business/UMass Lowell case work and Carnegie Higher Ed coverage), Times Higher Education reporting urged institutions to embed TikTok into recruitment, and engagement benchmarks from Rival IQ/Quid rank TikTok as a high‑engagement channel for colleges in 2024–25. (carnegiehighered.com))
