An app offering a gamified daily version of the news has found its streak mechanism created “sustained engagement patterns” among 277 students in a Pennsylvania State University case study.
Newsreel is an app aimed at 18 to 30-year-olds, a demographic who rarely now visit publisher websites or watch TV news, and are likely to consume most of their online content via platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube through an endless stream of short videos.
Newsreel provides a similar experience to language-learning app Duolingo, offering three stories per day with an emphasis on politics and foreign affairs. The reading experience includes articles broken into small chunks, interspersed with videos and quizzes to test whether the user is taking in the information. Ussers log a “streak” by using the app on consecutive days and reading every story.
All students in Penn State’s spring 2025 Media and Democracy course were required to sign up to Newsreel for 20 consecutive days as part of an experiment. Just under half (47%) completed the 20-day streak. The average length of engagement was 22.5 days, with 29.8% using Newsreel over 30 days.
Streaks were only implemented on weekdays, resulting in consistent drops of usage at the weekend (when new content was not published). The study ensured students could not retroactively make up missed days of their streaks.
Some 70% of participants said the gamification features were motivating and 65% said they planned to continue using Newsreel after their college requirements ended.
One student said: “I originally started using Newsreel just for the course credit, but now it’s become part of my morning routine. The format makes news much more digestible than scrolling through social media.”
‘Important’ to Gen Z’s news consumption
A total of 42% of participating students used the app for 25 days during the semester – more than required by the experiment – and 77% reported it as important to their daily news consumption.
Before the study began, 3% of students said they rarely consume news at all, 10% said they relied on TV news and 23% cited news websites as their main source.
Meanwhile, 58% said they primarily use social media for news.
Almost three-quarters (72%) reported a “better news experience” with Newsreel than previous ways they tried to stay up to date.
The university carried out the case study to challenge “social media dependency” for news consumption among Gen Z students, as well as a declining interest in traditional news and consistent habits – with “many students” reportedly having a “news will find me” mindset.
As well as a streak feature, the study tried to encourage use of Newsreel by making it a graded component of coursework, with credits awarded for 20-day streaks.
Courses that incorporated Newsreel content into classroom discussions also saw a better retention rate.
Since wrapping its spring pilot in June, Newsreel has partnered with 18 new schools and public libraries, and is working with Press Pass NYC, a journalism training programme for high school students.
The app is also finalising a distribution partnership with a major US magazine to expand Newsreel’s reach, CEO Jack Brewster told Press Gazette.
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