The Pew Research Center’s annual State of the Media Report underscores recent developments which suggest that American journalism is in the midst of a seismic transformation. Much of the discussion surrounds the ways in which people consume news, and the need for news producers to be able to respond to increasing consumer demands if it is to survive. The study shows that there is actually a growing market for reliable news content. This increase in media literacy will have a profound effect on the industry.

The Pew study showed that 36% of American adults get their news from watching videos online. More than a third of U.S. adults watch online news. Half of all Facebook users reported that they access news across at least six topic areas during an average day. The Pew data also found that Facebook users have rather low levels of engagement with conventional news sites. They have very short attention spans.

Advances in mobile technology are bringing consumers into the process. These developments, among others have changed the dynamics of news dissemination. These trends indicate that news producers need to incorporate more innovative ways of storytelling.

Surprisingly, the vast majority of original investigative reporting still comes from newspapers. The traditional sectors still account for most of the revenue supporting news gathering in the United States. Although newspaper advertising revenue was down 49% since 2003, most of the new revenue streams driving this momentum are not acquired from traditional news sources. For-profit digital news operations, whose businesses are based largely on advertising revenue from print and digital media. The ad revenue generated from “legacy” news magazines falls within the $300 million-to-$800 million range.

Daily newspaper advertising represents more than half (58%) of all advertising revenue earned from news; around $25.2 billion, according to the Newspaper Association of America. Still, this total is only about half what it was in 2005, when advertising dollars peaked at $49 billion. No other single sector of the American media approaches annual news-related revenues, making that sector the clear revenue leader.

Total revenues in this sector amounted to $38.6 billion from roughly 1,400 U.S. dailies. The Pew Report also highlighted the fact that digital advertising is now a $43 billion market in America. According to the study, however, most of those ad dollars go to only a handful of large technology firms, such as Google and Facebook. Online video advertising – those inescapable, extremely annoying video ads embedded in web content – saw even greater growth. I would like to kill the man responsible. Pop-ups ads are incredibly annoying.

The news industry in the U.S. brings in a little over $60 billion of annual revenue. Advertising remains by far the biggest revenue stream for the U.S. news media. Shifts in revenue, jobs, technology, content, and consumer behavior have changed the landscape of journalism. News media will be structured differently than in the past to account for the expanding industry and the growing influence of technology and new ways of sharing data.

In the future, the impact of new money flowing into the industry encourages other ways reporting and reaching bigger audiences than about building new, sustainable revenues.

One of the latest areas of research involves website content that is paid for by commercial advertisers but written by journalists on staff. These are referred to as ‘native ads’ in the industry. Native ads expenditures will reach $2.85 billion this year, according to the study. A native ad is when a publisher places paid advertising content, written either directly by the advertiser or in collaboration with them in such a way that it mimics editorial content. The result is virtually indistinguishable from a real-live news story. There is a significant overlap between public relations and news. I am concerned about this development.

Another big chunk of news revenues comes from the monthly cable TV bills paid by 100 million American households – including mine.

Event hosting, digital marketing services, e-commerce, content licensing, online marketing services for local business and even commercial printing and delivery are features of the new media landscape.

The Pew study also found that the use of smartphones is widespread: As of December 2012, about 45% of adults owned a smartphone, up from 35% in May 2011. Accessing news is one of the most popular uses for smartphones, enabling people to get news whenever they want

The local TV market has stabilized thanks to big increases in the money spent on political ads, took in $17 billion in advertising revenue. Local television experienced massive change in 2013. Over the last few decades, huge media conglomerates have grown even bigger. The local TV sector is the largest source of revenue, by far. This is largely driven by advertising.

The downside to this phenomenon is that fewer local TV stations are producing their own newscasts. Roughly a quarter of U.S. television stations do not produce their own news programs.

Retransmission fees, similar to cable TV license fees, are a small but growing portion of both network and local TV station revenues, and they will ultimately impact newsrooms if growth continues as projected. At the community level, some small town and rural papers are trying to bring in more revenue by publishing things like real estate guides, phone directories or niche newspapers.