More people are getting news online than they are from TV for the first time, according to Ofcom’s annual survey of news consumption habits in the UK.
And within that online segment, publisher websites are falling in influence and social media (which includes publisher accounts) dominates.
However, separate Ofcom research has found that TV was the most important source of news during the last UK general election campaign this summer.
Ofcom said TV had been considered the leading source of news in the UK since the 1960s when it overtook radio and newspapers.
But a “generational shift in the balance of news media” has now been marked.
The latest Ofcom survey found that 70% of UK adults (over-16s) are getting news from TV, down from 75% last year when it included broadcaster video on-demand for the first time. In 2018 TV was on 79%.
TV has now narrowly been overtaken by the internet, with 71% of adults getting news online in the past year. This is up from 68% last year and 64% in 2018 and has primarily been driven, Ofcom said, by the rise in people accessing news through social media.
Online includes social media, podcasts, messaging apps and other websites/apps accessed via any device.
The Ofcom survey interviewed 5,466 people between November to December 2023 and February to March 2024, of which almost half were face to face and the rest were online.
Social media specifically has tipped over into being used by the majority (52%) of people for news for the first time, up from 47% last year. When people said they used social media for news, this could include content or posts by traditional news publishers, journalists or public figures, or content posted/shared by friends and family.
Newspaper brands in print and digital have seen the biggest fall, down from 51% in 2018 to 34%. Usage of newspapers offline in print has gone from 26% to 22% in the past year. Ofcom said this was despite it speculating in 2023 that the decline “might have halted”.
Survey finds young are less likely to visit publisher websites
The generational differences in accessing news remain clear, Ofcom said.
Nine in ten (88%) of 16 to 24-year-olds use online sources for news versus 55% of 65 to 74-year-olds and 34% of those aged 75 and up. Each rising age group decreases its online - and social media - use.
However, older adults are more likely to directly access newsbrands online, Ofcom said, versus younger adults more likely to use social media. For example, the report found that 20% of those aged 55 and over accessed the BBC's online news offering versus 13% of 16 to 24s, while the same split for Mail Online is 7% versus 3%.
Although younger adults are more likely to use social media for news, just 37% of them said it was an accurate or trustworthy source - below the average across all age groups (44% said it is accurate while 44% said it was trustworthy).
Meanwhile, 41% of 16 to 24-year-olds use broadcast TV for news, rising to 49% when adding online on-demand, compared to 87% and 88% of 65 to 74-year-olds respectively. Again each successive age group increases its use of TV for news.
Ofcom did note that "we know from [broadcast data body] Barb data that half of all adults (51%) still watch news on any of the main public service broadcasters (PSBs) each week.". TV remains the most trusted source of news (69% across all age groups) and is seen as the most accurate (70%) versus 66% for each quality for printed newspapers.
Newspaper brands saw less than half (47%) of 75-and-overs use their print products for the first time (rising to 53% including online). Just 10% of 16 to 24-year-olds said they read a print newspaper, rising to a quarter (24%) including online.
The exception in the trend of having sequential increases or decreases in use by age is radio, which 55 to 64-year-olds are most likely to use for news (50%) followed by 65 to 67-year-olds (49%). Just under a quarter (23%) of the youngest age group get news from the radio.
Ofcom said: "The mean number of news sources consumed across all platforms was 6.9 in 2024, in line with 7.1 in 2018.
"Those aged 16-24 consumed more news sources than those aged 55 and over (7.5 vs 6.2), reflecting a wider range of online sources used."
Most popular sources of news in UK in 2024
Channel 4 has fallen out of the top ten individual sources for accessing news, with Whatsapp now placing just above it.
Channel 5 and BBC Radio 1 dropped out of Ofcom's top 20 list of news sources.
Youtube saw a big jump from 7% in 2023 to 19% this year but Ofcom said this was probably because it had been made more prominent to respondents of the survey.
BBC One remains the top individual source of news, despite dropping from 58% usage in 2019 to 43%. It was named as the single most important source by 17% of people, but 7% of 16 to 24-year-olds versus 27% of 55s and overs. The BBC is also the most popular source of online news in the UK, according to Press Gazette's monthly ranking of the top-50 UK news websites.
ITV dropped by four percentage points in a year to 30%, putting it equal with Facebook which remained steady year-on-year and has dropped from 35% in 2019.
Tiktok is up from 1% in 2020 to 11% while Instagram is up from 13% in 2019 to 18%. Both were named the single most important source of news for 8% of 16 to 24-year-olds and no-one above 55.
Google search has fallen from 19% to 14% in the past five years.
Overall the BBC was the top provider of news across all its platforms and output (including TV, radio, website, audio app BBC Sounds and TV on-demand via BBC iPlayer), reaching 68% of all UK adults, Ofcom said.
This was followed by Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, on 40%, then ITV on 38%. Google was in fourth place, including Youtube, reaching 32% of adults.
Where 12 to 15-year-olds get their news
Tiktok is now used as a source of news by one in three 12 to 15-year-olds - an increased proportion two years after the algorithmic platform became the highest single source for teens.
However, the BBC's combined platforms remains higher, on 36% even though BBC One and BBC Two saw the biggest percentage-point drop from 21% last year to 16%.
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