Seniors trust TV network news the most: study

Senior citizens are the only Canadians who still largely trust TV news, according to new research from the CRTC. Younger Canadians, aged 34 and under, are the most skeptical.

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Senior citizens are the only Canadians who still largely trust TV news, according to new research from the CRTC. Younger Canadians, aged 34 and under, are the most skeptical.

“Canadians 65 and over were more likely to be satisfied with the quality of information and depth of analysis offered by Canadian news media and to trust the information provided by Canadian news media to be accurate and impartial,” said the CRTC report.

Meanwhile, Canadians under 34 were least likely to rate mainstream media as factual and unbiased. This cohort was also “less likely to be satisfied with the news and information content they receive.”

Just over a third of Canadians, 36 per cent, said they were “satisfied with the quality of information and depth analysis offered by Canadian news media.”

This younger group was also the most likely to use online social media as their “primary source of news and information.”

“Older Canadians, in particular those 55 or older, were more likely to report their primary source of news and information content is regular television,” reads the report. “Canadians 55 or older were more likely to be satisfied with the news and information content they received than younger Canadians,” it added.

The study’s findings paint a grim picture for the future of traditional television. A 2025 Department of Canadian Heritage report stated that the medium’s aging audience poses “significant challenges” for the likelihood that certain channels will be able to continue.

“Although traditional television still exists, its long term future is uncertain because fewer people are watching,” it said. “In Canada for example, more young people are either cancelling their subscription or not subscribing at all to traditional television services.”

For example, the percentage of households that used only a traditional television subscription has dropped from 65 per cent to 15 per cent since 2019.

Conversely, the percentage of households that subscribed to both traditional television and a video-on-demand service increased from 21 per cent to 51 per cent over that same period.

Meanwhile, households subscribed solely to a video-on-demand service jumped from four per cent to 27 per cent.