News Consumption in the Digital Age

Francesco Capozza (), Ingar Haaland (), Christopher Roth () and Johannes Wohlfart ()
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Francesco Capozza: University of Barcelona & Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB)
Ingar Haaland: Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, CESifo, & CEPR
Christopher Roth: University of Cologne, Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics, CESifo, & CEPR
Johannes Wohlfart: University of Cologne & Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics

No 428, ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series from University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany

Abstract: Digital technologies have transformed the news landscape, shifting consumption from print media toward online providers. This has allowed news outlets to collect richer data on individual readers, and to use those data both to tailor the news a reader sees—which stories appear and how they are framed—and to sell more precisely targeted advertising. Online news outlets also increasingly recruit readers from social media, amplifying incentives to capture reader attention through sensationalized stories and other techniques to increase engagement. Generative AI is likely to accelerate this trend by lowering the cost of personalizing news. Whether cheaper production and finer personalization raise or lower consumer welfare depends on how closely the objectives firms maximize are aligned with the underlying preferences of consumers. This review studies how the shift toward online news consumption affects both the supply and the demand for news and draws potential implications for consumer welfare.

Keywords: News consumption; engagement; algorithms; generative AI; social media; attention economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2026-08
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:428

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