• by Mike Bloxham , Op-Ed Contributor, March 8, 2013

This USA TouchPoints analysis looks at how different media fare in terms of reach in a world where news content is available across all platforms whenever we want it and wherever we are.

The immediacy provided by 24-hour news networks, the Web and mobile media have long since challenged print and to a lesser extent the nightly news. The current cross-platform state of play within the news ecosystem revealed here shows a broad and healthy base of engagement with news across the board.

TV dominates; it delivers the greatest reach on the average weekday and weekend. The sheer mass of the population that engages with the medium everyday, the multitude of 24-hour news operations and the draw of both local and national news broadcasts on the major networks amount to a vast amount of content. 

The information draws an audience of intent and of circumstance -- those that make a decision to tune in and those that encounter the news while waiting for other programs.

All other media are significantly lower in terms of reach delivered during both the week and weekend. Interestingly, it is during the weekend that the difference between  other media is flatter, with only four percentage points between the second and fourth most significant media. (Print is second; Computer third and Radio fourth).

Whereas during the week, the gap is slightly larger and re-ordered: Computer 29%, Print 21% and Radio 20% reach.

Mobile devices in the form of phones and tablets bring up the rear during the week and the weekend.