Research: UK Gen Z favours social media for news
July 20, 2023
Online news sources – particularly social media sites and apps – are the dominant means by which younger people in the UK access news, meaning their direct relationships with traditional news brands are weakening, UK comms regulator Ofcom has found.
Ofcom’s News Consumption in the UK 2022/23 report reveals that older teens and young adults aged 16-24 are much more likely to consume news online than adults generally (83 per cent vs 68 per cent). And usually, it’s via social media on their mobile phones (63 per cent vs 39 per cent).
People in this age group are also much less likely than the average adult to access news content from traditional media sources, such as TV (47 per cent vs 70 per cent), radio (25 per cent vs 40 per cent) and print newspapers (16 per cent vs 26 per cent).
The study also finds that 16-24s reach online news in a different way to older generations. They’re much less likely than other adults to navigate straight to traditional news websites (9 per cent vs 26 per cent) and more commonly go via social media (37 per cent vs 24 per cent). This behaviour suggests youngsters have less of a direct connection with established news brands.
Social media platforms dominate the top five most popular news sources among 16-24s. Instagram (44 per cent) is the most-used single news source, followed by Facebook 33 per cent, Twitter 31 per cent, and TikTok, 29 per cent. Coming in joint second, BBC One (33 per cent) is the only traditional media source to feature in their top five.
Among the youngest children in the study aged 12-15, TikTok is now the most used single source of news across all platforms (28 per cent), followed by YouTube (25 per cent) and Instagram (25 per cent). However, taking into account all news content across its platforms, the BBC still has the highest reach of any news organisation among this age group (39 per cent).
The news topics of most interest to younger teens generally are: ‘sports or sports personalities’ (23 per cent), ‘music news or singers’ (15 per cent), ‘celebrities or famous people’ (11 per cent), ‘serious things going on in the UK’ (8 per cent) and news about ‘animals or the environment’ (9 per cent). Lighter news topics are of particular appeal across social media sites TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat.
Ofcom’s annual report also looks more broadly at the news habits of UK adults across TV, radio, print, social media, podcasts, other websites and apps and magazines.
Broadcast TV news maintains its position as the most popular source, used by 70 per cent of UK adults. This increases to 75 per cent when broadcast video on-demand news content is included. The public service broadcasters remain a dominant force in news delivery, collectively reaching 94 per cent of television news audiences. Outside of the PSBs and Sky News, no other TV channel offering news reaches more than 8 per cent of UK TV audiences.
BBC One (49 per cent) remains the most-used news single source across all platforms, followed by ITV (34 per cent) – although both channels have seen gradual declines over the past five years (down from 62 per cent and 41 per cent respectively). Similarly, Facebook – the third most popular news source among adults – is showing signs of decline, from 33 per cent to 30 per cent over the same period.
In contrast, TikTok’s popularity as a source of news is growing, with one in every 10 adults (10 per cent) using it to keep up with the latest stories – overtaking BBC Radio 1 (8 per cent) and Channel 5 (8 per cent) for the first time.
TikTok (55 per cent), along with Instagram (53 per cent), is particularly popular among adults for celebrity news. Twitter is the favoured destination for breaking (61 per cent) and political news (45 per cent), while Facebook is the preferred source for local news (59 per cent).
Following a long-term decline in the use of print newspapers – with overall reach of these news brands being supplemented by their digital platforms – Ofcom’s most recent data shows that print newspaper reach was consistent between 2022 and 2023.
Just over a quarter of adults (26 per cent) now access news via print newspapers, increasing to 39 per cent when including their online platforms.
The Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday and the Guardian/Observer are the most widely-read print and digital news titles overall.