News consumption in the UK: research report 25 June 2014 Note: This report was reissued on 10 July 2017. It corrects a previous misallocation of Channel 5's wholesale and retail news.
Introduction This summary slide pack provides the findings of Ofcom’s 2014 research into news consumption across television, radio, print and online. It is published as part of our range of market research publications that examine the consumption of content, and attitudes towards that content, across different platforms. The aim of this slide pack is to inform an understanding of news consumption across the UK, and within each UK nation. The slide pack details various findings relating to the consumption of news; the sources and platforms used, the perceived importance of different platforms and outlets for news, attitudes to individual news sources and an overview of local media consumption. It also provides details of our cross-platform news consumption metric – ‘share of references’. An accompanying summary report which highlights the key findings is available on the Ofcom website. This report uses a variety of data sources. The primary source is a news survey commissioned by Ofcom and conducted by Kantar Media in March and April 2014, comprising an omnibus survey of 2,731 people across the UK, which includes boosts of 350 in each devolved nation. This is the default source unless otherwise specified. Other sources used include: • an omnibus survey of 2,152 people across the UK, commissioned by Ofcom and conducted by Ipsos Mori, about local media; • metrics on television viewing from the industry currency BARB; • newspaper readership figures from the National Readership Survey (NRS); and • online consumption metrics from UKOM/comScore
News consumption in the UK: contents Section Page 1 News consumption by platform 4 2 Use of multiple sources across platforms 11 3 Importance of news sources 20 4 Share of references 24 5 News consumption via television 29 6 News consumption via radio 36 7 News consumption through newspapers 39 8 News consumption via the internet 48 9 Attitudes towards news topics and reasons for following news 58 10 Local media use 52 11 News consumption in the nations 69 3
1 News consumption by platform
Figure 1 Platforms used for news ‘nowadays’ Consumption of news via the internet has increased for both computers/laptops/tablets and mobiles since 2014, while TV has seen a small decrease. Television remains by far the most- used platform for news consumption. News consumption by any type of internet platform (41%) is now on a par with newspaper and radio consumption. % of adults in UK Driven by 16-34s - 75% Television 78% from 66% in 2013 41% to 59% Any internet or apps* Any internet or apps 32% 40% has increased Newspapers 40% amongst 16-34s from 2014 2013 36% Radio 44% in 2013 to 60% 35% 25% Internet or apps on computer/laptop/netbook 13% Internet or apps on tablet** 34% amongst 21% those with a Internet or apps on a mobile 14% Smartphone Internet or apps on 11% Word of mouth 11% computer/laptop/netbook/tablet 5% has increased from 25% in Magazines 6% 2013 to 31% 4% Interactive TV, Ceefax, TV apps 4% 5% None of these / Don’t follow news 7% Q3a) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? 2014 Base: All adults 16+ (2731). 2013 Base: All adults 16+ (2862) *Any internet or apps is an aggregate of all internet devices. **Tablet usage not asked separately in 2013
Figure 2 Platforms used for news ‘nowadays’: 16 -24s and 55+ Those aged 16 – 24 are more likely than those aged 55+ to use the internet or apps to access news (60% v 21%) and they are less likely to use the television (56% v 90%). Use of a mobile for news shows the biggest difference between the age groups. 56% Television % of adults in UK 90% 60% Any internet or apps* 21% 36% Newspapers 54% 21% Radio 41% 29% Internet or apps on laptop/netbook 12% 15% Internet or apps on tablet 7% 40% Internet or apps on a mobile 4% 15% Word of mouth 8% 5% Magazines 4% 16-24 55+ 2% Interactive TV, Ceefax, TV apps 3% 10% None of these / Don’t follow news 3% Q3a) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All adults 16+ (2731). *Any internet or apps; aggregate of all internet devices.
Figure 3 Use of four main platforms for news nowadays Over nine in 10 adults (95%) use any of the four main platforms (TV, newspapers, radio and internet) for news. The figure is higher among over 55s (96%) than 16-24s (89%). All platforms are more likely to be used by those in the AB socio-economic group, and this group also uses more platforms in general than those in the DE group. The use of the internet for news shows a large differentiation by both age and social grade. The average number of platforms % of adults in UK used nowadays for news is 2.2 2014 2013 95% (2.1 in 2013) * 90% 78% 75% 41% 40% 40% 36% 35% 32% Any of the four main Television Newspapers Radio Internet (any platforms device) Q3a)/Q3aa) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All adults 16+ (2013 – 2862, 2014 - 2731) * These averages are calculated from the 8 platforms used for news nowadays asked at Q3a, to allow for comparison of trend over time, rather than using the fuller list of platforms asked about in 2014.
Figure 4 Combinations of four main platforms used nowadays for news ‘TV only’ has decreased slightly since 2013, with just under one in five (18%) using only TV for news. One in ten (9%) say they only use the internet for news, an increase from 5% in 2013. One in five (20%) of those aged 55+ and almost three in ten (28%) of those in the DE socio-economic group use only TV for news, compared to one in ten (9%) of ABs. Almost one in five of those aged 16-24 use internet only for news, compared to 1% of those aged 55+. 18% TV only 22% 13% TV + Newspapers 14% 2014 2013 9% TV + Newspapers + Radio 10% 9% TV + Internet Proportion of each demographic 7% 9% that use TV only and internet only Internet only 5% 8% TV + Radio 8% TV only Internet 7% TV + Radio + Newspapers +… 6% only 7% TV + Radio + Internet 6% 16-24 13% 19% 5% TV + Internet + Newspapers 4% 2% Newspapers only 3% 55+ 20% 1% 2% Radio only 2% 2% Internet + Newspapers AB 9% 9% 1% 2% Internet + Radio 1% 1% DE 28% 5% Radio + Newspapers 1% 1% Internet + Radio + Newspapers 0% 5% None of the above 10% Q3a) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? 2014 Base: All adults 16+ (2731), 2013 Base: All adults 16+ (2862)
Figure 5 Make-up of news consumption by four main platforms Of all the possible platform combinations used for news, TV and no other platform is the most popular at 18%, followed by a combination of TV and newspapers (13%). Seven per cent of respondents used all four platforms. 18% Radio Television 2% 36% 75% 8% 9% 1% 9% 7% 9% 2% 7% 13% 2% 1% 5% Newspapers Internet 40% 41% 2% None of the above = 5% Q3a) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All adults 16+ (2731)
2 Use of multiple sources across platforms
Figure 6 Average number of news sources used nowadays per platform Among those who use each particular platform, the mean number of sources used within them has not changed. Overall, the average number of sources used across all platforms is 3.8. 3.8 average across platforms (3.7) Average number of news sources used nowadays per platform 2.0 1.9 1.4 2.0 (1.9) (1.4) (1.9) (2.1) 2013 figures in brackets Q5a to Q5e Base: All who use each platform for news nowadays (TV=2136, Newspapers=1160, Radio=990, Internet=1029, All platforms=2580).
Figure 7 Distribution of multi-sourcing Over three-quarters (76%) of news consumers use three or fewer news providers. Compared to 2013, the use of two providers has increased slightly (26% to 29%). WHOLESALE 100% 2% 1% 0% 7% 76% use 3 or fewer 12% 80% 55% use 1 or 2 providers 21% 60% 22% use 4 or more providers 40% 29% 20% 26% 0% 1 provider 2 providers 3 providers 4 providers 5 providers 6 providers 7 providers 8+ providers Q5a to Q5e Base: All who use any platform for news nowadays (2580) Note: Wholesale is classified as the company that provides the news for the given source. Retail is classified as the branded title/service through which the news is provided.
Figure 8 Distribution of multi-sourcing At a retail level, 72% of news consumers use three or fewer news sources. There have been no changes since 2013. RETAIL 2% 1% 100% 1% 4% 72% use 3 or fewer 8% 80% 11% 52% use 1 or 2 providers 19% 60% 27% use 4 or more providers 40% 27% 20% 26% 0% 1 provider 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9+ providers providers providers providers providers providers providers providers Q5a to Q5e Base: All who use any platform for news nowadays (2580) Note: Wholesale is classified as the company that provides the news for the given source. Retail is classified as the branded title/service through which the news is provided.
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