The role of online and social media within

news consumption

Alison Preston

Head of media literacy research, Ofcom

BFI, July 2013 Data in this presentation is from Measuring News Consumption and Attitudes: Annex 5 to

Ofcom’s advice to the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport. By Kantar

Media, June 2012

Four in ten now use the internet for news in the UK

89%

55%

55%

37%

17%

17%

11%

8%

94%

52%

67%

27%

32%

3%

17%

9%

Television

Radio

Newspapers

Internet or apps on computer

Word of mouth

Internet or apps on a mobile

Magazines

Interactive TV, Ceefax, TV apps

Platforms used for news – 2012 and 2007

2012 (use nowadays)

2007 (use ever)

Data from Measuring News Consumption and Attitudes: Annex 5 to Ofcom’s advice to the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics,

Media and Sport. By Kantar Media, June 2012

68

52

41 38

26 23 21

12

62

47

29 30 27

30

14 18

71

56

48 45

26

20

28

10

2

Selected reasons for following the news

To know

what’s

going on

around

the world

To keep

informed

about

certain

issues

To form

opinions

on the

important

issues

To get

different

perspectiv

es on

what is

happening

It gives

me

something

to talk

about with

others

To be

knowledge

able for

my job/

studies

Out of

habit – it’s

part of my

routine

To pass

the time

when I am

travelling/

waiting

All UK adults 16-24 55-64

Dominance of TV for nearly all types of news

81% 77%

70%

64%

58%

47%

23%

42%

17%

42%

30%

42% 43%

31%

38% 39% 36%

39%

26%

34%

13%

44% 49% 49%

26%

42% 38%

29%

Serious news stories

Breaking stories

Headline and summaries

Opinions and debates

In-depth analysis

Light hearted stories

Rumour and gossip

Television Newspapers Radio Internet

Broadsheet - 57% Broadsheet – 66%

Measuring news consumption across different platforms

4

18%

9%

6%

5%

5%

5%

5%

3%

3%

2%

2%

2%

2%

2%

32%

BBC One

ITV1 / ITV Wales …

BBC website or app

Sky News channel

BBC News channel

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 1

Facebook

The Sun

Google news

Channel 4

Sky News website …

BBC Two

Others

TV Channel

Newspaper

Radio Station

Website / app

540 sources, each of which have a maximum

1% share

“Share of references”

Online and social media for news

6

Top 10 named sources for online news

57%

19%

19%

17%

13%

11%

9%

6%

6%

BBC website or app

Facebook

Google news

Sky News website or app

The Guardian\ Observer website or app

Yahoo news

Twitter

The Daily Mail website or app

MSN news

Base: those who use the internet for news (41%)

Using social media for news

8

“Some things are just more on

Facebook. You learn about them

[there]… Like more sort of things

that aren’t so serious, like more

entertainment types things”

18-24, Belfast

Twitter: “You can almost find stuff out

as soon as it happened – or

sometimes better [sooner] – than

radio or TV”

18-24, Belfast

“But if someone put it there [social

media site] I might do a wee Google

search and see if there’s a credible

source elsewhere”

35-54, Glasgow

“I didn’t realise how much I talk

about the news…the amount of

times I see something and talk about

it with my friends on Facebook or

Twitter”

25-34, Cheshire

“Facebook and Twitter to me is ‘he

said, she said’!”

35-54, Glasgow

“Facebook’s having a coffee and a

chat…Twitter is random nonsense”

35-54, Glasgow

Use of online sources – by age and SEG

65%

33% 29%

23%

63%

34%

40% 39%

61%

31%

19%

4%

73%

28%

35%

22%

51%

44%

19%

25%

TV broadcaster website or apps

Aggregators Newspaper website or apps

Social media

All 16-24 55-64 ABC1 C2DE

“Traditional” methods of reading news still dominate online

60%

25%

25%

18%

16%

8%

7%

6%

6%

Read news stories online

Read news comments/ articles on blogs, social networking sites or apps

Use search engine to find out about particular news story or subject

Watch TV news online

Watch news related video clips

Listen to radio news online

Receive email alerts or notifications of news

Share existing news related comments or articles on blogs, social networking sites …

Watch news podcasts

Ways that news is accessed online 16-24s

60%

40%

22%

23%

17%

6%

9%

n/a

n/a

5.5

6.0

6.5

7.0

7.5

8.0

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Importance by market size M

ea

n Im

po

rtan

ce

of

so

urc

e

Market size (% against all adults)

Digital Only

Channels

BBC Radio

Commercial Radio

Tabloid

Broadsheet

Mid-market

Regional

Freesheets

Broadcaster

websites

Newspaper

websites

Aggregators Social Media

Personal importance compared to market size - aggregated

5.5

6.0

6.5

7.0

7.5

8.0

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Importance by market size M

ea

n Im

po

rtan

ce

of

so

urc

e

Market size (% against all adults)

PSB TV

Channels

Digital Only

Channels

BBC Radio

Commercial Radio

Tabloid

Broadsheet

Mid-market

Regional

Freesheets

Broadcaster

websites

Newspaper

websites

Aggregators Social Media

Personal importance compared to market size - aggregated

13

b) 14%

9) What proportion of people only use one media platform

for news?

alison.preston@ofcom.org.uk

Report materials available at

www.ofcom.org.uk/marketresearch