Josiah
For the first time, online platforms have overtaken television as the most popular source of news in the UK, according to an annual survey by Ofcom, the broadcast regulator. The survey reveals that 71% of the population now rely on online services for news, surpassing the 70% who still use TV news bulletins.
Over the past year, the use of online news sources increased from 68% to 71%, while social media usage for news also saw a rise, from 47% to 52%. Among those aged 16 to 24, a significant 82% reported using social media to stay informed. The most frequently mentioned online platforms were Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, emerged as the second-largest news source in the survey, with 40% of respondents using its platforms for news. YouTube saw the most significant increase, with its use as a news source rising from 7% in 2023 to 19% in 2024.
Despite these shifts, the BBC remains the single biggest news source, with 68% of people saying they rely on it. However, Ofcom’s survey is based on self-reported habits, which can differ from actual usage data. For example, the BBC News service reaches 75% of the UK population weekly, according to further analysis.
Traditional news outlets experienced declines, with newspapers and their websites dropping from 39% to 34% in usage. TV news viewership also fell from 75% to 70%, and BBC News online saw a decrease from 22% to 18%.
While the survey doesn’t track specific site usage, reports from the UK Press Gazette show that the BBC (with 1.2 billion visits) and CNN (with 710 million visits) remain the two largest news websites globally, both seeing increased traffic in the past year.
Among TV channels, BBC One remains the most mentioned single news source, with 43% of those surveyed citing it as their go-to, well ahead of rivals ITV and Facebook, both at 30%.
In contrast, traditional newspapers faced continued decline, with print readership among those over 55 falling from 38% to 32% in just one year. The Guardian had the highest traffic among UK newspaper websites, with 365 million visits in July 2024. Despite these changes, BBC One continues to lead the TV news landscape.
Source:BBC
