BBC News and Mail Online together accounted for almost half of all time spent on news websites by UK adults during the six-week general election campaign, according to a new report.

The BBC made up 28 per cent of the time spent on UK news websites leading up to the snap election, while Mail Online accounted for 21 per cent.

The report, published today by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, said this showed the importance of a “small handful” of UK news websites and the “winner-takes-most” nature of the market.