Incident beats intentA look at UK online news consumption Analysis by Evolving Influence, June 2015

Context

Every year, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism releases its Digital News Report, a multi-market study of online news habits.

The vast majority of data about online habits is US focused or its provenance is unavailable. There is a paucity of data for those who work with the UK news media to understand consumer habits.

Evolving Influence has analysed the raw data and the RISJ’s analysis for the UK to compile the following slides.

News consumption

Smartphones at the heart of online news

Smartphones continue to grow as a tool to access news

For smartphones, the rate of growth is increasing

Tablet use is growing too, but the rate of growth is weakening

8b. Which, if any, of the following devices have you used to access news in the last week? [Smartphone]

Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News report 2015 http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/

Habits formed?

Half of those accessing

news on smartphones use a single source

Only One in 25

of those accessing news on

smartphones use five or more

sources

Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News report 2015 http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/

Q19A. You say you access news via a SMARTPHONE. When using that device what news sources have you accessed in the last week ?

BBC dominates

Across all devices, the BBC is the most popular online news source

Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News report 2015 http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/

66%62% 64%Q19CC. You say you access news via a [SMARTPHONE - TABLET - PC/LAPTOP]. When using that device which of the following news sources did you use

to access in the last week ? Please select all that apply.

Will not pay

%

0 25 50 75 100

Very likely Somewhat likely Don't know Somewhat unlikely Very unlikely

Just 6% say they have paid for online news in the past year

Only 6% say they are likely to pay in the future

Nearly three quarters (73%) say they are very unlikely to pay for online news in the future

Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News report 2015 http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/

Q7aii. You said you have not paid for online digital content in the last year… How likely or unlikely would you be to pay IN THE FUTURE for online news from particular sources that you like?

Social snapshot

The sharing community

Sources: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News report 2015 http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/ Ofcom - Facts and Figures http://media.ofcom.org.uk/facts/

Nearly half (47%) of British adults use social networking sites

One in seven (14%) UK adults share news through a social network during an average week

Q13. During an average week in which, if any, of the following ways do you share or participate in news coverage? Please select all that apply. Share a news story via Social Network (e.g Facebook, Twitter, Reddit)

Finding news vs. stumbling across it

Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News report 2015 http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/

0

17.5

35

52.5

70

Twitter Facebook

62%32% 35%

64%

I think of it as a useful way of getting newsI mostly see news when I’m on it for other reasons

Q12CII/Dii. You say you use Twitter / Facebook for news. Which of the following statements applies best to you?

Twitter is seen as a news source by two thirds (64%) of those who use it…

Top three social networks for news

Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News report 2015 http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/

%

0

7.5

15

22.5

30

Facebook Twitter YouTube

7%14%

29%

Q12B. Which, if any, of the following have you used for finding, reading, watching, sharing or discussing news in the last week ? Please select all that apply. Base: Total UK sample

…but more people find news on Facebook.

Sources

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News report 2015 http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/

Ofcom - Facts and Figures http://media.ofcom.org.uk/facts/

Karan Chadda Director @kchadda +44 (0)20 3393 7090 evolvinginfluence.co.uk

Evolving Influence

Bonus stat: Clickbait might work

Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News report 2015 http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/

Q10c. You said that you use social media like Facebook or Twitter as a way of accessing news content, which one of the following statements do you agree with most? Base: All who have used social media to access news content in the last week

%

0

10

20

30

40

24%34%

40%

I tend to click on content that comes from a person

I know and trust

I tend to click on content that comes from a site I know and trust

I tend to click on headlines that are most interesting to me