News consumption in the UK: research report
15 December 2015
Note: This report was reissued on 24 March 2017. It corrects a previous misallocation of Channel 5's wholesale and retail news, and includes other minor corrections to the dataset News consumption in the UK: contents
Section Page 1 Platforms used for news nowadays 4 2 Multiple and single sourcing of news 10 3 News consumption via television 21 4 News consumption via radio 27 5 News consumption through newspapers 29 6 News consumption via internet 37 7 Local news use 50 8 Share of references 54 9 Attitudes towards news topics and reasons for following news 59 11 News consumption in the nations 69
2 Introduction
This report provides the findings of Ofcom’s 2015 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 report details various findings relating to the consumption of news; the sources and platforms used, the perceived importance of different outlets for news, attitudes to individual news sources, reasons to follow news, local news use, and news consumption in the nations. It provides details of our cross-platform news consumption metric – ‘share of references’. The report also compares findings related to news consumption with those from the past two years, where possible. An accompanying Executive Summary is available on the Ofcom website here: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/tv-radio/news-media/. This report uses a variety of data sources. The primary source is a news survey commissioned by Ofcom and conducted by Kantar Media in September/October 2015, comprising an omnibus survey of 2,921 people across the UK, which includes boosts in each devolved nation to ensure a minimum of 350 interviews in each. This is the default source unless otherwise specified. Other sources used include: • 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 1 Platforms used for news ‘nowadays’ Figure 1.1 Use of four main platforms for news nowadays Just under nine in 10 adults (89%) use any of the four main platforms (TV, newspapers, radio and internet) for news, a decrease from 95% in 2014 but similar to 2013 levels. Use of internet for news has remained stable at 41%, but all other platforms have decreased since 2014. Among those with internet access, use of the internet for news rises to 47%. % of adults in UK 2013 2014 2015 95% 90% 89%
78% 75% 67%
40% 40% 41% 41% 35% 36% 31% 32% 32%
Any of the four main Television Newspapers (printed)* Radio Internet (any device) platforms Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q3a/Q3aa Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All adults 16+ (2015: 2921), (2014: 2731), (2013: 2862) *‘Newspaper’ code was changed in 2015 to ‘Newspaper (printed)’ Note: in 2015, the introduction to this question was modified to include mentioning looking at news on mobiles while commuting and getting news updates through social media Figure 1.2 Platforms used for news ‘nowadays’ Consumption of news via mobiles and word of mouth has increased since 2014, and 36% of adults with a smartphone say they get news this way. Laptops/PCs/netbooks are less likely to be used for news in 2015. % of adults in UK Television 75% 67% Newspapers (printed)* 40% 31% 2014 2015 Radio 36% 32% Any Internet or apps (NET)** 41% 41% Internet or apps on 25% computer/laptop/netbook 20% The average number of Internet or apps on tablet 13% 13% platforms used nowadays Internet or apps on a mobile 21% for news is 2.0 25% 36% amongst Word of mouth 11% (2.2 in 2014)** 14% those with a Magazines 5% Smartphone 4% Interactive TV, Ceefax, TV apps 4% 4% 5% None of these 10% Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q3a/Q3aa Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All adults 16+ (2015: 2921), (2014: 2731), (2013: 2862) *‘Newspaper’ code was changed in 2015 to ‘Newspaper (printed)’ Note: in 2015, the introduction to this question was modified to include mentioning looking at news on mobiles while commuting and getting news updates through social media. **Average is calculated from the 8 platforms used for news nowadays in Q3a Figure 1.3 Platforms used for news ‘nowadays’: 16-24s and 55+ Those aged 16–24 are far more likely than those aged 55+ to use the internet or apps to access news (59% v 23%) and they are also less likely to use the television (51% v 86%). % of adults in UK 56% 16-24 51%
TV on 55+ 90% Televisi 86% 36% 16-24 21% Newspapers * pers 55+ 54% Newspa (printed) 44% 21% Radio 16-24 23% 41% Radi o 55+ 37% 60% Any internet or apps (NET)** 16-24 59% 2014 2015 Any 55+ 21% internet or apps (N ET) ** 23% 34% Internet or apps on PC/laptop/netbook 16-24 28% on 55+ 16% or apps Internet netbook r/laptop/ compute 15% 16-24 15% Internet or apps on tablet 16% 55+ 7% or apps Internet
on tablet on 8% 40% 16-24 42%
Internet or apps on a mobile phoneon a 4%
mobi le 55+ or apps Internet 8% 15% 16-24 19% Word of mouth 8% mouth 55+ Word of Word 12% 5% 16-24 5% es Magazines 55+ 4%
Magazin 6% 2% 16-24 3% Interactive TV, Ceefax, TV apps 3%
ve TV, 55+ Ceefax, Interacti TV apps 4% 10% 16-24 15% 3% None of these these 55+ 5%
None of Significant difference testing carried out between 2014 and 2015 figures Q3a/Q3aa Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: 2015: 16-24 (368), 55+ (1194), 2014: 16-24 (362), 55+ (1115). Note: Newspaper’ code was changed in 2015 to ‘Newspaper (printed)’ **Any internet or apps; aggregate of all internet devices. Note: in 2015, the introduction to this question was modified to include mentioning looking at news on mobiles while commuting and getting news updates through social media. 7 Figure 1.4 Combinations of four main platforms used nowadays for news One in five adults only use TV for news, and one in ten only use the internet. Sole use of radio and newspapers are much lower at 3% and 2% respectively. 18% TV only 19% 9% Internet only 11% 2014 TV + Newspapers (printed) 13% 10% 2015 9% TV + Internet 10% 8% TV + Radio 7% 9% TV + Newspapers (printed) + Radio 6% 7% TV + Radio + Newspapers (printed) + Internet 6% 7% 16-24 55+ TV + Radio + Internet 6% TV + Internet + Newspapers (printed) 5% 3% TV only 13% 26% 2% Radio only 3% 2% Newspapers (printed) only 2% Internet only 20% 2% 2% Internet + Newspapers (printed) 2% Newspapers 2% 2% 2% only Internet + Radio 2% 1% Radio only 3% 2% Radio + Newspapers (printed) 1% 1% Internet + Radio + Newspapers (printed) 1% 5% None of the above 11% Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q3a/Q3aa Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All adults 16+ (2015: 2921), (2014: 2731) Note: Newspaper’ code was changed in 2015 to ‘Newspaper (printed)’ Note: in 2015, the introduction to this question was modified to include mentioning looking at news on mobiles while commuting and getting news updates through social media. Figure 1.5 Make-up of news consumption by four main platforms One in five adults only use TV for news, and one in ten only use the internet. Sole use of radio and newspapers are much lower at 3% and 2% respectively. Six per cent of adults use all four platforms.
Television 19% Radio 3% 32% 67% 7% 10% 1%
6% 6% 11% (9%) 2% 6% 2% 10% (13%) 1% 3%(5%) Internet Newspapers 41% 31% 2% None of the above = 11% (5%) 2014 figures in brackets where significantly different Q3a) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All adults 16+ (2921), 2014 (2731) 2 Multiple and single sourcing of news Figure 2.1 Number of sources used on each platform For all platforms, excepting newspapers, people are most likely to use one source of news. Among those who use newspapers for news, 35% of people use two sources, compared to 34% that use one source. The number of sources used across platforms, proportion of respondents(%) (2014 figures in brackets) Number of TV Radio Newspapers Internet/apps All platforms sources used 1 44% (42%) 60% (62%) 34% (35%) 43% (45%) 24% (20%) 2 34% (34%) 24% (24%) 35% (39%) 22% (22%) 22% (19%) 3 11% (14%) 8% (7%) 15% (13%) 11% (13%) 14% (17%) 4 4% (4%) 2% (2%) 6% (6%) 6% (6%) 12% (13%) 5 2% (2%) 1% (1%) 2% (2%) 3% (3%) 8% (9%) 6 1% (1%) - (-) 1% (1%) 3% (2%) 5% (7%) 7+ 1% (2%) - (-) - (1%) 4% (2%) 12% (15%) Mean number of 2.0 (2.0) 1.5 (1.4) 1.9 (1.9) 2.1 (2.0) 3.5 (3.8) sources used Q5a to Q5e) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use each platform for news nowadays (TV=2039, Newspapers=957, Radio=910, Internet=1141, All platforms=2626). Note: For individual platforms the mean number of sources is among those who use just that particular platform for news. For all platforms (aggregated) the mean number of sources is shown among those who used any of the four platforms for news and aggregated across all of them so is therefore a wider base .The calculation is made by summing the number of sources each respondent said for each platform, and then dividing by the number of people who use any of them. Figure 2.2 Number of sources used on each platform, by age group Three in ten (29%) of 16-34s and one in five (21%) of those aged 55+ who consume news use only one source. The proportion of those aged 55+ who use only one source, and who use more than seven, has increased since 2014. The number of sources used across all platforms, proportion of respondents(%) 2014 figures in brackets Number of sources used All 16+ 16-34 55+
1 24% (20%) 29% (23%) 21% (16%) 2 22% (19%) 22% (20%) 22% (18%) 3 14% (17%) 13% (13%) 16% (20%) 4 12% (13%) 11% (10%) 13% (15%) 5 8% (9%) 7% (7%) 8% (11%) 6 5% (7%) 5% (6%) 6% (8%) 7+ 12% (15%) 11% (19%) 12% (12%) Mean number of sourcesused 3.5 (3.8) 3.2 (3.9) 3.6 (3.8)
Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q5a to Q5e) Which of the follow ing do you use for news nowadays? Base: All w ho use each platform for new s now adays: All platforms=2626, 16-34=738, 55+=1136 2014 Base: All platforms=2580, 16-34=706, 55+=1085 Note: For individual platforms the mean number of sources is among those w ho use just that particular platform for news. For all platforms (aggregated) the mean number of sources is show n among those w ho used any of the four platforms for new s and aggregated across all of them so is therefore a w ider base .The calculation is made by summing the number of sources each respondent said for each platform, and then dividing by the number of people w ho use any of them. Figure 2.3 Average number of news sources used nowadays per platform Among those who use each particular platform, the mean number of news sources used within them has not changed. Overall, the average number of news sources used across all platforms is 3.5.
3.5 average across platforms (3.8)
Average number of news sources used nowadays per platform
2.0 1.9 1.5 2.1 (2.0) (1.9) (1.4) (2.0) 2014 figures in brackets
Q5a to Q5e) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use each platform for news nowadays (TV=2039, Newspapers=957, Radio=910, Internet=1141, All platforms=2626). Figure 2.4 Distribution of multi-sourcing Over three-quarters (78%) of news consumers use three or fewer news providers. Six in ten (60%) use one or two providers. WHOLESALE
100% 2% 1% 0% 78% use 3 or fewer 6% 11% 80% 60% use 1 or 2 providers 18% 20% use 4 or more providers 60%
28% 40%
20% 32%
0% 1 provider 2 providers 3 providers 4 providers 5 providers 6 providers 7 providers 8+ providers
Q5a to Q5e) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use TV, Newspaper, Radio or Internet for news nowadays (2626), 2014 (2580) Note: Wholesale is classified as the company that provides the news for the given source. Figure 2.5 Distribution of multi-sourcing Over half (56%) of those who use any platform for news nowadays use one or two providers, and seven in ten (73%) use three or fewer providers. RETAIL
2% 1% 100% 4% 1% 73% use 3 or fewer 7% 80% 11% 56% use 1 or 2 providers 17% 60% 26% use 4 or more providers
40% 26%
20% 30%
0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9+ provider providers providers providers providers providers providers providers providers
Q5a to Q5e) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use any platform for news nowadays (2626) Note: Retail is classified as the branded title/service through which the news is provided. Figure 2.6 Top 20 news sources: reach among all adults The top two news sources in terms of reach among all adults are both TV channels, with BBC One being the most used (48%); this is a decrease of five percentage points since 2014 BBC One 48% 53% in 2014 ITV/ITV WALES/UTV/STV 27% 33% in 2014 BBC website or app 23% BBC News Channel 14% Sky News Channel 12% 17% in 2014 Facebook 12% 7% in 2014 BBC Radio 4 8% BBC Radio 2 8% 10% in 2014 Channel 4 8% TV Channel The Sun 6% 11% in 2014 Google (General search Engine) 6% 8% in 2014 Newspaper The Daily Mail 6% 9% in 2014 Sky News website or app 6% Radio Station BBC Two 5% BBC Radio 1 5% 7% in 2014 Website / app YouTube 4% The Daily Mirror 4% The Metro 4% Twitter 4% The Guardian\Observer website or app 4% The Daily Mail website or app 4% Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q5a-e) Thinking specifically about
78% of news consumers use three or fewer providers
32% use one provider only
19% (16%) only use Proportion of each demographic that use only BBC One as a news source
8% (6%) only 16-24 55+ AB DE use 5% 10% 6% 10% (7%) (7%) (4%) (9%) 2014 figures in brackets
Q5a-e) Thinking specifically about
78% of news consumers use three or fewer providers
32% use one provider only
4% (4%) only use
Proportion of each demographic that use only ITV/ITV Wales/UTV/STV as a 4% (4%) only news source use 16-24 55+ AB DE channel 4% 5% 1% 6% (1%) (4%) (*%) (8%) Q5a-e) Thinking specifically about
80% 77% 2014 2015 Other includes 466 individual news sources (all below 2%)
49 TV stations (Mostly foreign) 77 Radio stations 41% 38% 211 local papers (Not DMGT or Trinity) 129 Websites or apps 36%36%
22% 18% 18%16% 17% 13% 10% 9% 9% 8% 7% 6% 5% 6% 4% 4% 4% 4% 4% 4% 1% 1%
Base: Q5a to Q5e. All who use any platform for news nowadays 2015 (2626) 2014 (2580). Note: We use the wholesale/retail distinction to distinguish between who provides the news to the consumer vs who produces that news. For example, Channel 4 provides news so it appears as ‘Channel 4’ in retail categories but ITN produces the news so Channel 4 is included in ‘ITN’ in wholesale categories. This wholesale category is derived from responses given about individual news titles. Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance between 2014 and 2015. Note: We no longer consider it appropriate to aggregate all use of commercial radio for news to Sky as a wholesale provider, as we did in our 2014 report. We now consider that Global Radio and Bauer Radio are wholesale providers of news and are therefore presented on this chart at the wholesale level. Please see section 8 below for more details. Figure 2.10 Cross-platform audience reach of providers used ‘nowadays’ for news Just under eight in ten (77%) of those who use any news source use any BBC source (a decrease of three percentage points since 2014). Cross-platform reach (%) RETAIL
80% 77% 2014 2015 Other includes 378 individual news sources (all below 2%)
50 TV stations (Mostly foreign) 36% 211 local papers (Not DMGT or Trinity) 33% 117 Websites or apps 29% 22% 23% 18% 18%16% 17% 15% 15% 13% 9% 9% 7% 9% 9% 9% 9% 8% 8% 7% 7% 6% 5% 6% 4% 4% 4% 4% 3% 3% 1% 1%
Base: Q5a to Q5. All who use any platform for news nowadays 2015 (2626) 2014 (2580 ) Note: We use the wholesale/retail distinction to distinguish between who provides the news to the consumer vs who produces that news. For example, Channel 4 provides news so it appears as ‘Channel 4’ in retail categories but ITN produces the news so Channel 4 is included in ‘ITN’ in wholesale categories. . Note: Digital intermediaries such as social media, search engine, or aggregators draw on content from a range of online news providers. It is beyond the scope of this survey to ascertain which news providers are being used within these intermediaries. Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance between 2014 and 2015. *News Now and BuzzFeed included in 2015 **Other local commercial, Smooth Radio, LBC, Magic, Kiss included in 2015 3 News consumption via television Figure 3.1 Share of viewing to ‘national and international news’ on television by channel group, UK adults 16+: 2010-2014 BARB data shows that the majority of news viewing on TV is through the BBC channels, and this has increased since 2010. ITV’s share of viewing has declined during this period. Proportion of ‘national and international news’ viewing (%) Total hours per head 119 121 115 115 108
100% 0.3% 0.4% 0.6% 0.5% 0.7% 6.2% 6.9% 6.4% 6.3% 4.9% 1.9% 1.9% 2.1% 1.8% 1.6% 90% 3.5% 3.3% 3.1% 2.8% 2.9% Other 12.9% intl 80% 15.9% 13.3% 13.2% 13.4% Sky News 70% 11.2% 13.9% 12.9% 12.1% 12.5% Channel 5 60% 50% Channel 4 40% ITV 65.8% 30% 59.7% 60.4% 61.8% 63.1% news news viewing, % 20% BBC News
Proportion of national/ 10% BBC One and Two 0% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Source: BARB, Adults 16+, Network. Genre = News generic>national and international news, 4+ regions. Note:S4C excluded from this analysis. Note: BBC One and Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 include HD variants and +1 channels where applicable. Other, include PSB portfolio channels and all other channels that transmitted national and international news programming. Figure 3.2 Share of viewing to ‘national and international news’ on television by channel group, UK adults 16-24: 2010-2014 BBC One and Two still account for the majority of news viewing. 16-24s watch an average of 25 hours of news compared to the all-UK total of 108 hours. Proportion of ‘national and international news’ viewing (%) Total hours per head 33 32 28 27 25
100% 1.2% 1.4% 1.8% 1.8% 2.0% 6.8% 7.8% 5.6% 6.6% 4.4% 2.4% 3.0% 2.6% Other 90% 2.6% 2.6% 5.8% 7.0% 6.3% 5.8% 5.8% 80% 18.0% Sky News 17.3% 17.6% 18.6% 70% 19.9% 9.1% 60% 11.1% 9.8% Channel 5 11.2% 16.0% 50% Channel 4 40% viewing, % 30% ITV 55.0% 54.9% 58.1% 51.5% 48.5% 20% BBC News
Proportion ofnational/intl news 10% 0% BBC One and Two 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Source: BARB, Adults 16+, Network. Genre = News generic>national and international news, 4+ regions. Note:S4C excluded from this analysis. Note: BBC One and Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 include HD variants and +1 channels where applicable. Other, include PSB portfolio channels and all other channels that transmitted national and international news programming. Figure 3.3 Share of viewing to ‘national and international news’ on television by channel group, UK adults 55+: 2010-2014 The proportion of news viewing across different TV channels by those aged 55+ is in line with the UK average. The total number of hours viewed by those aged 55+ is 189, compared to 108 for all UK. Proportion of ‘national and international news’ viewing (%) Total hours per head 194 201 193 197 189 100% 0.2% 0.3% 0.4% 0.4% 0.5% 4.8% 5.2% 5.0% 4.8% 3.8% 2.1% 2.0% 2.1% 1.8% 1.6% 90% 2.9% 2.8% 2.5% 2.3% 2.3% Other 12.5% 13.2% 13.0% 13.0% 80% 15.5% Sky News 11.2% 12.8% 12.2% 70% 12.1% 13.2% Channel 5 60%
50% Channel 4
viewing, % 40% ITV 65.6% 68.2% 30% 62.5% 63.4% 64.2%
20% BBC News Proportion ofnational/intl news 10% BBC One and Two 0% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Source: BARB, Adults 16+, Network. Genre = News generic>national and international news, 4+ regions. Note: S4C excluded from this analysis. Note: BBC One and Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 include HD variants and +1 channels where applicable. Other, include PSB portfolio channels and all other channels that transmitted national and international news programming. Figure 3.4 TV channels used for news nowadays Sky News has seen a small decrease among those who use TV for news (from 23% in 2014 to 19% in 2015), but BBC One remains by far the most popular TV channel for news consumption % of all who use TV for news 73% BBC One 71% 72% 43% ITV1/ITV WALES/UTV/STV 43% 41% 21% BBC News Channel 21% 20% 20% Sky News Channel 23% 19% 10% Channel 4 11% 12% 6% BBC Two 7% 2013 7% 5% 2014 Channel 5 4% 4% 2015 3% Al Jazeera (English version) 4% 4% BBC Three 4% 3% 2% CNN 2% 2% BBC Four* 2% 1% BBC Parliament 1% 2% 2% RT (Russia Today)* 1% 1% Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q5a) Thinking specifically about television, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use TV for news 2015(2039), 2014 (2136), 2013 (2290) Note: only sources with an incidence of 1% or more are shown. *Note: BBC Four was not included on the prompted list in 2013-2014, Russia Today code was changed in 2015 to RT (Russia Today)
25 Figure 3.5 Frequency of consumption for main TV channels BBC One is the most frequently accessed across all TV news sources – 76% of those who use it for news say they do so once a day or more often.
Proportion of viewers (%)
100% 2% 4% 4% 6% 9% 5% 6% 15% 14% 17% 90% 11% 11% Less than once a 15% 16% 9% 80% 8% 13% week/DK 11% 17% 70% 11% 11% Once a week 6% 23% 15% 60% 13% 2-3 times a week 45% 10% 50% 6% 33% 8% 36% Most days 40% 45%
30% 34% 34% Once a day 37% 20% 31% 31% 27% More than once a 10% 19% day 14% 13% 8% 0% BBC One (1495) ITV/ITV BBC News Sky News Channel 4 (220) BBC Two (145) Channel 5 (86) WALES/UTV/STV Channel (352) Channel (346) (900)
Q5ai) And typically how often do you watch the news on
Source: National Readership Survey / Kantar Media analysis Note: Data represent the twelve months until March of the stated year. Readership in 2012 may be overstated, as it is not possible to de-duplicate readers of i and other titles due to factoring. Includes the Daily Record and Sunday Mail. Financial Times is no longer measured by NRS and is not included in data for 2014 and 2015.
30 Figure 5.2 Reach of national newspapers, by media owner: April 2005-March 2015 (7 days) All publishers have seen their reach decline since 2005, with News Corp and Trinity Mirror seeing the largest decrease in readership; 17.3pp and 12.3pp respectively. The reach of all publishers has been relatively stable since 2014. Reach (average issue readership) 40% 35% News Corp 30% DMGT 25% Trinity Mirror 20% Northern & Shell 15% Telegraph Media Group 10% Guardian Media Group 5% Lebedev 0% Pearson 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Source: National Readership Survey / Kantar Media analysis Note: Data represent the twelve months until March of the stated year. Title grouping is based on current ownership and is not retrospective. Readership of Lebedev titles in 2012 may be overstated, as it is not possible to de-duplicate readers of i and other Lebedev titles due to factoring. Trinity Mirror titles include the Daily Record and Sunday Mail. Pearson’s Financial Times is no longer measured by NRS and is not included in data for 2014 and 2015
31 Figure 5.3 Reach of daily national newspapers, by media owner: April 2005-March 2015 (weekdays) Readership of all daily newspapers has decreased, except for Lebedev which increased its readership by 0.3pp since 2005. The largest decreases in readership were seen by News Corp and Trinity Mirror which saw declines of 9.4pp and 6.8pp respectively. Reach (average issue readership) 25%
20% News Corp DMGT 15% Trinity Mirror Northern & Shell 10% Telegraph Media Group 5% Lebedev Guardian Media Group 0% Pearson 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Source: National Readership Survey / Kantar Media analysis Note: Data represent the twelve months until March of the stated year. Title grouping is based on current ownership and is not retrospective. Readership of Lebedev titles in 2012 may be overstated, as it is not possible to de-duplicate readers of i and other titles due to factoring. Trinity Mirror includes the Daily Record. Pearson’s Financial Times is no longer measured by NRS and is not included in data for 2014 and 2015.
32 Figure 5.4 Reach of national newspapers, by media owner: April 2005-March 2015 (Sundays) The closure of the News of the World in July 2011 led to a significant drop in readership for News Corp’s Sunday titles. Other tabloid publishers experienced a temporary growth in readership at that time. Reach (average issue readership) 30%
25% News Corp DMGT 20% Trinity Mirror 15% Northern & Shell Telegraph Media Group 10% Guardian Media Group 5% Lebedev
0% 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Source: National Readership Survey / Kantar Media analysis Note: Data represent the twelve months until March of the stated year. Title grouping is based on current ownership and is not retrospective. Trinity Mirror includes the Sunday Mail.
33 Figure 5.5 Combined print and online* readership of daily newspapers The combined print and online readership of daily newspapers has fallen year on year, driven by declines in print readership. With print and online combined, the Daily Mail is still the most widely- read news title in the UK, as the gain from its digital-only readers exceeds the print readership of The Sun. 2014 2015 Readership (thousands) 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 Daily Mail 6,032 5,463 The Sun 5,773 5,237 Metro 3,324 3,559 Daily Mirror 2,930 2,726 The Daily Telegraph 2,125 2,138 The Guardian 2,071 2,130 London Evening Standard 1,614 1,998 The Independent 1,327 1,367 Daily Express 1,214 1,145 The Times 1,191 1,026 Daily Star 1,166 1,065 Print only Print and website Website only Source: Ofcom analysis of NRS/comScore PADD, March 2014, 2015. NRS average issue readership April– March fused with comScore in March of each year. Note: The Independent includes print readership of i. *The data above includes only visits from laptop and desktop computers. Smartphone and tablet use is excluded because of Inconsistency of available data across devices and between browser use and application use.
34 Figure 5.6 Daily newspapers used for news nowadays One in five (20%) of respondents who use newspapers for news say they read The Sun. There has been an increase in the proportion of people using daily ‘free-sheets’ since 2014 (up by four percentage points), this is mainly driven by the increase in the use of the Evening Standard (four percentage points) % of those who use news 25% The Sun 26% 20% 19% The Daily Mail 21% 19% 13% The Daily Mirror 13% 13% 12% The Metro 9% 12% 2015 2014 2013 9% The Times 6% 9% Broadsheet 28% 24% 24% 5% The Guardian 9% 8% Mid-market 23% 25% 24% 8% 2013 The Daily Telegraph 6% Tabloid 32% 37% 37% 8% 2014 5% The Evening Standard 2% 6% 2015 Local daily 11% 13% 11% 6% The Daily Express 4% 5% Daily ‘Free-sheets’ 14% 10% 13% 3% The 'i' 4% 5% 5% The Daily Star 3% 4% 3% The Independent 3% 3% 4% The Daily Record 2% 3% 1% The Financial Times 2% 1% Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q5b) Thinking specifically about daily newspapers, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use newspapers for news (957) 2014 (1160) 2013 (1252) * Daily free-sheets are the Metro and the Evening Standard Figure 5.7 Weekly newspapers used for news nowadays There has been no change in stated use of any weekly newspaper since 2014, though there has been a decrease in those saying they use weekly free newspapers for news. Proportion of those who use newspapers for news
12% The Mail on Sunday 12% 10% 13% 2015 2014 2013 The Sun on Sunday 13% 9% Broadsheet 16% 14% 14% 7% The Sunday Times 6% Mid-market 12% 14% 14% 8% 7% Tabloid 18% 20% 22% The Sunday Mirror 6% 6% Local weekly paid 4% 6% 7% 3% The Observer 3% Local weekly free 1% 3% 6% 5% 2013 5% The Sunday Telegraph 4% 2014 4% 2015 2% The People 3% 2% 3% The Sunday Express 2% 2%
Q5c) Thinking specifically about w eekly new spapers, w hich of the follow ing do you use for new s now adays? Base: All w ho use new spapers for news (957) 2014 (1160), 2013 (1252). Note: only sources with an incidence of 1% or more are show n. Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance betw een 2014 and 2015. 6 News consumption via the internet Figure 6.1 Use of Internet/apps for news nowadays Half (51%) of those who use internet/apps for news use the website/apps of TV and radio companies. 43% say they use social media sites for news. % of those who use internet for news Websites/apps of TV and 51% radio companies
Social media sites 43%
Search engines 37% Websites/apps
Websites/apps of Social Media 28% newspapers
Websites/apps of news Search Engines 17% aggregation sites
Websites/apps of online Other 16% news organizations
Websites/apps of news 6% magazines Any traditional news media = 64% Any digital first news media (excluding social media sites, Blogs 5% search engines, blogs) = 28% Use social media sites only = 10% Don't know 2%
Q3b1) Which of the following do you use to get news ? Base: All adults 16+ who use the internet for news nowadays (1141) Note: Digital intermediaries such as social media, search engines, or aggregators draw on content from a range of online news providers. It is beyond the scope of this survey to ascertain which news providers are being used within these intermediaries. Figure 6.2 Use of Internet/apps for news nowadays – 16-24s and 55+ Six in ten (61%) 16-24s who use the internet for news, use social media, compared to just over a quarter (26%) of those in the 55+ age group
% of those who use internet for news 61% Social media sites 26% 47% Websites/apps of TV and radio companies 51% 37% Search engines 47% 28% Websites/apps of newspapers 33% 16-24 21% Websites/apps of online news organizations 17% 55+ 16% Websites/apps of news aggregation sites 20% 9% Websites/apps of news magazines 6% Any traditional news media = 61% (16-24s) 63% (55+) 7% Blogs Any digital first news media (excluding social media sites, 4% search engines, blogs) = 33% (16-24s) 30% (55+) Use social media sites only = 16% (16-24s) 6% (55+) Don't know 4% Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q3b1) Which of the follow ing do you use to get new s ? Base: All adults 16+ w ho use the internet for new s now adays (1141) 16-24 (227), 55+ (239) Figure 6.3 Types of ways to access and use news through internet or apps Reading news stories online is still the most common way of accessing news on the internet, at 49%, but it is a decrease since 2014 (60%). Reading comments or articles on social media has increased, as has using a search engine 60% Look at a sequence or gallery of 7% Read news stories online 49% pictures about news 7%
Read news related comments or 23% Share existing news related video 10% articles on blogs, social clips networking sites or apps such… 30% 6%
Use a search engine to find out 21% Post your own news related 5% about a particular news story or comments or articles on blogs, subject 25% social networking sites or apps… 6%
20% 3% Watch TV news online Watch news podcasts 20% 4% 2014
14% 3% 2015 Watch news related video clips Listen to news podcasts 16% 3%
Share existing news related 10% Subscribe to personalised news 3% comments or articles on blogs, information i.e. choosing which social networking sites or apps… 13% topics you get information from… 3%
Receive email alerts or 6% Use a 'news ticker' or rolling news 2% notifications of news 9% across your screen 1%
6% Post your own news related video 1% Listen to radio news online 8% clips 1% Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q6a) In which types of ways do you access and use news through the internet or apps nowadays? Base: All who use any internet for news nowadays (1141) 2014 (1029) Figure 6.4 Types of ways to access and use news through internet or apps, by age 16-24s are more likely than those aged 55+ to say they use social media to access news, while those aged 55+ are more likely to use a search engine. 49% 7% Look at a sequence or gallery of Read news stories online 52% 4% pictures about news 46% 7% Read news related comments or 30% 6% Share existing news related video articles on blogs, social networking 32% 10% clips sites or apps such as Facebook… 18% 4% Use a search engine to find out 25% Post your own news related 6% about a particular news story or 22% comments or articles on blogs, 7% subject 34% social networking sites or apps… 3% 20% 4% Watch TV news online 23% Watch news podcasts 4% All 16+ 22% 3% 16-24 16% 3% Watch news related video clips 19% Listen to news podcasts 4% 55+ 14% 2% Share existing news related 13% Subscribe to personalised news 3% comments or articles on blogs, 12% information i.e. choosing which 8% social networking sites or apps… 6% topics you get information from… 4% 9% 1% Receive email alerts or notifications Use a 'news ticker' or rolling news of news 12% 1% across your screen 12% 1% 8% 1% Listen to radio news online Post your own news related video 4% 1% 10% clips 0% Significant difference testing carried out only between 2014 and 2015 figures and not between age groups within same year Q6a) In which types of ways do you access and use news through the internet or apps nowadays? Base: All who use any internet for news nowadays (1141), 16-24 (227), 55+ (239) Figure 6.5 Types of ways to access online news Accessing online news directly through the news provider’s app is most popular among those who use the internet for news. Proportion of internet news users who answered ‘Most times’ or ‘Often’ (%)
Go to the homepage of a news provider by using an app 36%
Go to news story via link shared on social media by a friend/a person I follow 28% Go to homepage of news provider by selecting url/web Homepage of address 27% News Provider
Search for news story with a search engine 27% Social Media Go to news story via website/app that brings together News story news from different news providers e.g. Yahoo News or… 26% Go to news story via link shared on social media by a news organisation 22%
Go to homepage of news provider by selecting a bookmark 16%
Go to news story another way 14%
Go to homepage of news provider in another way 13%
Go to news story via link shared on social media by a journalist 9%
Q6a1) Still thinking about when you access online news, can you tell me how often, if at all, you do any of the following? Base: All who use any internet for news nowadays (1141) Figure 6.6 Websites or apps used for news nowadays Use of social media for news has seen an increase of 11 percentage points since 2014, from 20% to 31%), mainly driven by the increase in use of Facebook for news (from 17% in 2014 to 29% in 2015).
% of those who use internet for news
59% 2015 2014 2013 60% 56% 52% Aggregators 19% 15% 25% 50% Social media 31% 20% 23% Search engines 15% 19% 16% 40% Note: These net figures differ from those on slide 6.1. This is because 29% 30% in slide 6.1 we ask about the categories of site used, whereas the net figures here are derived from responses about individual sites. 19% 20% 17% 18% 17% 2015 16% 15% 14% 14% 13% 10% 10% 10% 2014 8% 9%9% 8%8%9% 9% 8% 10% 6%7% 7% 6% 6% 5%5% 4% 5% 4%4%4% 4% 2013 3%3% 3% 3% 2%3%3% 2%2% 3% 3% 0% * * Twitter YouTube Buzzfeed Facebook MSN news engine) Yahoo news Any loca l or app or app or app Google new s The Telegraph The website or or website app Google (search newspaper site newspaper Huffington Post Huffington website or or website app website or or website app The Independent The Sky News website News Sky ITVor ITN webs ite Daily Mail website Guardian\Observer BBC website orBBC website app Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q5e) Thinking specifically about the internet, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use internet for news (1141) 2014 (1029) 2013 (857)Note: only sources with an incidence of over 2% are shown. Note: in 2014 ‘Aggregators’ includes Google News, MSN News, Yahoo News, AOL News, Feedly, Flipboard, plus any other sites nominated by respondents. Google reader ceased in 2013. In 2015 News Now and BuzzFeed were also included. ‘Social media’ includes Facebook and Twitter. ‘Search engines’ include Google and any other search engine nominated by respondents. *indicates where no data was available.
43 Figure 6.7 Use of Facebook/ Twitter for news nowadays Social media has seen a significant increase across most demographic groups with almost half (47%) of 16-24s now using Facebook or Twitter for news % of adults in UK who use internet for news 15% Male 29% 25% Female 35%
30% 2014 16-24 47% 29% 2015 25-34 35% 19% 35-44 36% 10% 45-54 25% 8% 55-64 20% 0% 65-74 4% 1% 75+ 3%
19% ABC1 29% 21% C2DE 35% Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q5e) Thinking specifically about the internet, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use internet for news (1141) 2014 (1029) Figure 6.8 Unique audience* for the top 20 selected news sites in the UK, March 2015 News content on bbc.co.uk has the highest unique audience of news websites in the UK. Newspapers’ websites also have a significant number of desktop/laptop users, with the Daily Mail leading, followed closely by The Guardian site and then The Daily Telegraph. Unique audience (thousands) BBC News 15,177 DAILYMAIL.CO.UK 10,762 THEGUARDIAN.COM 10,502 TELEGRAPH.CO.UK 9,466 INDEPENDENT.CO.UK 5,573 MIRROR.CO.UK 5,038 Newsquest Media Group 4,027 Local World Sites 3,498 MSN News 3,305 Johnston Press Plc 3,262 BUZZFEED.COM 3,042 Yahoo News 2,936 CNN Network 2,599 EXPRESS.CO.UK 2,534 METRO.CO.UK 2,507 Sky N ews 2,183 New York Times Digital 1,796 NBC News Digital 1,533 HUFFINGTONPOST.CO.UK* 1,252 THESUN.CO.UK 874 0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000
Source: ComScore, March 2015, Adults 15+. Internet use at work and home, on desktop and laptop only. * Smartphone and tablet use is excluded because of Inconsistency of available data across devices and between browser use and application use. Note: Figures for the BBC and Yahoo! refer to the de-duplicated audience of news-specific sites in their respective reporting categories. Newsquest, Johnston Media and New York Times Digital are aggregate audiences of reporting local titles.
45 Figure 6.9 Online PC/laptop reach* for top 20 selected news sites in the UK, March 2015 The BBC news site has the highest reach, followed closely by the Daily Mail, then The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. Each of these sites were visited by at least a fifth of desktop/laptop users in March 2015. Reach (%) 40 34
24 23 21 20 12 11 9 8 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 5 4 3 3 2 0
Source: ComScore, March 2015, Adults 15+. Internet use at work and home, on desktop and laptop only. * Smartphone and tablet use is excluded because of Inconsistency of available data across devices and between browser use and application use. Reach is defined as the proportion of the total online audience aged 15+ who have visited the relevant site at least once in the reporting month. Note: Figures for the BBC and Yahoo! refer to the de-duplicated audience of news-specific sites in their respective reporting categories. Newsquest, Johnston Media and New York Times Digital are aggregate audiences of reporting local titles.
46 Figure 6.10 Use of social media vs. news sites, among users of social media for news 16-24s who get news stories through social media are more likely to find out about news mostly via social media posts, with 55+s more likely to mostly get it directly from the website/app of a news organisation. Proportion of respondents who get news stories through social media (%)
All adults 30% 38% 31% 1%
16-24 43% 25% 32% 1%
55+ 20% 44% 35% 2%
Mostly get news from social media posts Mostly get news directly from websites/app of a news organisation Get news equally from social media posts and from websites/apps Don’t know
Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance
Q6a2) Which one of the follow ing w ould you say is closest to the w ay you find out about new s w hen you’re online? Base: All adults 16+ w ho get new s stories through social media (e.g. Facebook, Tw itter, YouTube, etc) (867), 16-24 (209), 55+ (110) Figure 6.11 Types of news accessed from social media posts Breaking news and UK news are the most popular types of news from social media posts among those who get news stories through social media.
Proportion of respondents who get news stories through social media (%)
Breaking news 55%
UK news 50%
Local news 42%
Headlines 38%
Foreign/International news 37%
Celebrity news 22%
Campaigning news 15%
In depth analysis 10%
News about nations 8%
None 6%
Q6a3) Which of the following types of news do you tend to get from the social media posts that you receive? Base: All adults 16+ who get news stories through social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc) (867) Figure 6.12 Types of news accessed from social media posts – 16-24s and 55+ Six in ten (58%) 16-24s who use social media for news say they access breaking news stories, compared to 41% of 55+s. One third (32%) of 16-24s who use social media for news say they access celebrity news, compared to 11% of those aged 55+. Proportion of respondents who get news stories through social media (%)
Breaking news 58% 41% UK news 57% 46% Local news 35% 35% 16-24 Headlines 41% 30% 55+ Foreign/International news 39% 30% Celebrity news 32% 11% Campaigning news 14% 12% In depth analysis 10% 11% News about nations 9% 5% None 2% 17%
Q6a3) Which of the follow ing types of news do you tend to get from the social media posts that you receive? Base: All adults 16+ w ho get new s stories through social media (e.g. Facebook, Tw itter, YouTube, etc) (867) 7 Local news use Figure 7.1 Ways of accessing local news TV is the most popular platform for accessing local news, with 33% using regional and local broadcasts on BBC TV, and 20% watching ITV/STV/UTV.
Regional and local broadcasts on BBC TV 33% Regional and local broadcasts on ITV/STV/UTV 20%
News Bulletins on local BBC radio station 7% Radio news on local commercial 11% TV Net: 43%
Printed local or regional newspapers 21% Radio Net: 18% Printed local or regional magazines 3% Newspapers Net: 23% Websites/apps of TV and radio companies such as BBC/ ITV/ STV/ UTV 8% Websites/apps of local or regional newspapers 7% Websites/apps Net: 18% Websites/apps of local or regional news magazines 3% Websites/apps of other news outlets 3% Social Media
Social media 16% Other Blogs 1%
Word of mouth 18% Don't follow local news 6% QXX3) Thinking particularly about local news, which of the following do you use? Base: All who use each platform for news nowadays (2663). Note: Responses relating to Local TV as a distinct TV channel have not been included in this chart due to likely respondent misinterpretation of the question. Figure 7.2 Ways of accessing local news – 16-24 and 55+ The most popular way of accessing local news for the 16-24 age group is through social media (32%), whereas those in the 55+ age group use more traditional means such as TV, radio and newspapers 23% Regional and local broadcasts on BBC TV 43% 11% Regional and local broadcasts on ITV/STV/UTV 25%
8% News Bulletins on local BBC radio station 10% 13% Radio news on local commercial 10%
15% Printed local or regional newspapers 27% 3% Printed local or regional magazines 4%
Websites/apps of TV and radio companies such as BBC/ ITV/ 11% 16-24 STV/ UTV 5% 10% Websites/apps of local or regional newspapers 5% 55+ 2% Websites/apps of local or regional news magazines 2% 6% Websites/apps of other news outlets 1%
32% Social media 4% Blogs 3%
Note: boxes in red 18% indicate differences of Word of mouth 17% 6% statistical significance Don't follow local news 4% QXX3) Thinking particularly about local new s, w hich of the follow ing do you use? Base: All w ho use each platform for new s now adays (UK=2663, 16-24=315, 55+=1141). Note: significance testing has been carried out betw een age groups. Note: Responses relating to Local TV as a distinct TV channel have not been included in this chart due to likely respondent misinterpretation of the question. Figure 7.3 Ways of accessing local news: by Nation Half of those in Northern Ireland use BBC TV to access local news Regional and local broadcasts on BBC TV 34% 22% 31% 50% Regional and local broadcasts on ITV/STV/UTV 20% 17% 18% 43%
England Radio news on local commercial 11% 11% 9% 18% Scotland Wales Printed local or regional newspapers 21% 23% 21% 20% N Ireland Printed local or regional magazines 2%
Websites/apps of local or regional newspapers 8%4%6% 10% Websites/apps of local or regional news magazines 3% Websites/apps of TV and radio companies such BBC Radio Scotland = 8% as BBC 8% 8% 7% 19% Websites/apps of other news outlets 4% BBC Radio Ulster = 15% BBC Radio Wales/Cymru = 7%
Social media 15% 20% 17% 19% The use of BBC Nations radio services for local news was only asked of those who can access that particular service e.g. only those in Scotland were asked if they use Word of mouth 18% 13% 21% 27% BBC Radio Scotland for local news use. Don't follow local news 6% 8% 2%
QXX3) Thinking particularly about local new s, w hich of the follow ing do you use? Base: All w ho use each platform for new s now adays (UK=2663, England=1591, Scotland=347,Wales=394, Northern Ireland=331). Note: Responses relating to Local TV as a distinct TV channel have not been included in this chart due to likely respondent misinterpretation of the question. Note: significance testing has been carried out betw een nations 8 Share of references Share of references Share of references is a bespoke cross media-metric which is derived from our consumer research. Respondents are asked to list all of the news sources which they use and the frequency with which they use them. We calculate the share that each source has across all media platforms, by taking into account the frequency with which sources are used by respondents.
Calculation: 1. Frequency scale figures established for each individual source used “nowadays” 2. Frequency figures factored for each source (e.g. figures for BBC One “Lots of times a day” are multiplied by 21, figures for BBC One “2-3 times a day” are multiplied by 14, etc.) 3. Factored figures summed to create a new total for each source 4. All sources summed to create grand total of consumption 5. Proportion of grand total calculated for each source 6. Totals for each individual source summed and grouped by respective retailer/wholesaler, i.e. If respondent uses more than one source from a particular retailer/wholesaler it counts each time 7. Proportions for each relevant source summed for providers to create share of references 8. Specific platform proportions of share of references calculated for each provider as well
Note: In our 2015 advice to the Secretary of State on a Measurement Framework for Media Plurality, we noted that although Sky News Radio provides bulletins for commercial radio stations, many commercial stations source, produce and broadcast their own news content. We, therefore, no longer consider it appropriate to aggregate all commercial radio consumption to Sky as a wholesale provider. We now consider that the two largest radio groups, Global Radio and Bauer Radio, are wholesale providers of news (with a 4% and 1% share of references respectively), and are currently assessing the extent to which other commercial radio broadcasters (together providing a 1% share of reference) also operate as wholesale providers of news content. Global Radio and Bauer Radio are therefore presented at the wholesale level in our data. While we assess the provision of other commercial radio broadcasters’ news content, these are included within “other”. This methodology has been applied to the current and historic data shown on the charts which follow. Published prior data is not comparable. Figure 8.1 Platform share of references The share of references for internet or apps has increased by five percentage points since 2014, while the share of references for TV, radio and newspapers has stayed largely the same year on year. Proportion of respondents (%) 50% 47% 2013 2014 2015 42% 40% 40% 32% 30% 27% 21% 19% 20% 18% 17% 13% 12% 10% 10%
0% Television Internet or apps Radio Newspapers
Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Base: All who use a news source nowadays (2626) Figure 8.2 WHOLESALE Provider share of references At the wholesale level there is little change in share of reference from 2014. However, there has been an increase in the share of reference for “other” (21%, up from 17% in 2014). Proportion of respondents (%) 50 444444 2013 2014 2015 40
30
21 20 1617 14 1211 10 7 7 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Base: All w ho use a new s source for new s now adays (2588) 2014 (2553). Note: Wholesale is classified as the company that provides the new s for the given source. Note: We no longer consider it appropriate to aggregate all use of commercial radio for new s to Sky as a w holesale provider, as w as the case in our 2014 report. We now consider that Global Radio and Bauer Radio are w holesale providers of new s and are therefore presented on this chart at the w holesale level. Please see the introductory slide to section 8 for more details. Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance betw een 2014 and 2015. Figure 8.3 RETAIL Provider share of references At a retail level, there has been an increase in the share of reference for Facebook since 2014 (from 3% to 7%). Proportion of respondents (%) 50 444444 2013 2014 2015 40
30
20
11 10 9 10 7 7 6 6 7 7 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Base: All w ho use a new s source for new s now adays (2588) 2014 (2553) Note: Retail is classified as the ow ner of the branded title/service through w hich the new s is provided (except the three generic categories ‘commercial radio’, ‘aggregators’ and ‘social media’). *New s Now and BuzzFeed included in 2015 **Other local commercial, Smooth Radio, LBC, Magic, Kiss included in 2015. Note: Digital intermediaries such as social media, search engines and aggregators draw on content from a range of online new s providers. While other retail new s sources listed here may be accessed through these intermediaries, it is beyond the scope of this survey to capture this use. Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance betw een 2014 and 2015 9 Attitudes towards news and reasons for following news Figure 9.1 Single most important news source across all adults and selected age-groups Those aged 55+ place more importance on BBC One than 16-24s (42% vs. 14%). 16-24s place more importance on websites/apps than those aged 55+ (51% vs 6%). 16+ 16-24 55+ Proportion of respondents (%) 50 TV channel 53% 31% 67% 42 (54%) (36%) (65%) 40 Newspaper 9% 6% 13% All adults 16-24 55+ (11%) (12%) (15%) 32 29 30 Radio 12% 7% 11% 26 (12%) (6%) (12%) 21 Website/app 23% 51% 6% 20 16 17 14 13 (21%) (45%) (4%) 10 10 8 6 5 5 5 5 4 3 3 4 3 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 0 BBC One ITV/ITV BBC website BBC News Facebook Sky News BBC Radio BBC Radio The Sun Google Others* WALES/ or app Channel Channel 4 2 (general UTV/STV search engine) 2014 all 2% UK %: Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q8a) Looking at all the sources of news you have said that you use, which one is most important to you personally. *’Others’ includes sources below 1%. Base: All who use any news source nowadays (16+=2588, 16-24=305, 55+=1124). Note: 2014 figures only shown where there are statistically significant differences between 2014 and 2015 Figure 9.2 Single most important news source across all adults and selected SEG One in six (17%) of those in the DE socio-economic group say that ITV1 or its nations equivalent is their single most important news source, compared to 5% of ABs. 16+ AB DE Proportion of respondents (%) 50 TV channel 53% 49% 62% (54%) (50%) (65%) 40 Newspaper 9% 8% 9% 32 16+ AB DE (11%) (11%) (12%) 29 29 30 Radio 12% 17% 9% 26 26 (12%) (14%) (9%) 23 20 17 Website/app 23% 24% 18% (21%) (24%) (12%) 10 10 9 10 8 7 5 5 5 5 5 6 4 4 3 4 4 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 0 BBC One ITV/ITV BBC BBC News Facebook Sky News BBC Radio BBC Radio The Sun Google Others* WALES/ website or Channel Channel 4 2 (general UTV/STV app search engine) 2014 all 2% UK %: Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q8a) Looking at all the sources of news you have said that you use, w hich one is most important to you personally? Base: All w ho use any new s source now adays (16+=2588, AB=471, DE=908). *’Others’ includes sources below 2% Figure 9.3 Single most personally important news source Half (50%) cite a BBC source as their most important news source. This is followed by ITN (12%) and Sky (6%). Proportion of respondents (%) 52% 2014 2015 50% WHOLESALE
14% 14% 12% 11% 7% 6% 4% 3% 3% 2% 3% 2% 1% 1% 0% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%
Q8a) Looking at all the sources of news you have said that you use, which one is most important to you personally? Base: All who use a news source for news nowadays (2015: 2552, 2014:2592). Note: This wholesale category is derived from responses given about individual news titles. Note: We no longer consider it appropriate to aggregate all use of commercial radio for news to Sky as a wholesale provider, as was the case in our 2014 report. We now consider that Global Radio and Bauer Radio are wholesale providers of news and are therefore presented on this chart at the wholesale level. Please see the introductory slide to section 8 for more details. Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance between 2014 and 2015. Figure 9.4 Attributes for television news sources among those who use each source Six in ten viewers of BBC TV news rated it highly for accuracy and reliability (62%) and trustworthiness (59%), while around half of viewers of the Sky News Channel rated it highly for offering a range of opinions (54%) and helping them to make their mind up (44%). Proportion who rated source as 62% 48% 51% 43% 19% 60% important Proportion of users who rated the source highly (7-10) (%) 70 62 59 5756 5856 60 52 5454 52 54 55 48 5148 48 50 46 44 44 4544 43 41 39 40 34 3533 2930 30 23 20 10 0 BBC Television ITV Sky News Channel 4 (TV Channel 5 Al Jazeera Channel Channel) Accurate & Reliable Trustworthy Impartial & unbiased Offers range of opinions Helps me make my mind up
Q9c) And to w hat extent do you think the follow ing statements apply to [SOURCE] as a new s source? Answ er using a scale of 1 to 10, w here 1 is not at all and 10 is completely Base: Those w ho use platform to access the new s ‘now adays’ on each type (varies) – Only includes bases over 50. Note: New s sources are ordered by consumption levels. Figure 9.5 Attributes for radio news sources among those that use each source Over 60% rate BBC Radio highly for all of the attributes, excepting ‘helps me make my mind up’ (51%), while below 50% rate commercial radio highly for all the attributes, excepting trustworthiness (53%) Proportion of users who rated the source highly (7-10) (%)
65% 68% 66% BBC Radio 60% 63% 51%
40% 47% Commercial 53% Radio 43% 38% 32% Importance Accurate & reliable Trustworthy Impartial & unbiased Offers range of opinions Helps me make my mind up
Q9c) And to w hat extent do you think the follow ing statements apply to [SOURCE] as a new s source? Answ er using a scale of 1 to 10, w here 1 is not at all and 10 is completely Base: Those w ho use platform to access the new s ‘now adays’ on each type (varies) – Only includes bases over 50. Note: New s sources are ordered by consumption levels. Figure 9.6 Attributes of newspaper sources among those who use each source Over seven in ten (72%) rate the Guardian or Observer highly for accuracy and reliability, compared to just under a quarter that said the same for The Sun/ Sun on Sunday. Proportion who rated source as 48% 35% 45% 57% 55% 63% 38% 53% important Proportion of users who rated the source highly (7-10) (%) 70 60 50 40 72 67
30 60 59 56 55 53 52 50 49 49 48 46 46 45 44 44 43 43 42 41 41 40 20 40 39 37 37 36 34 33 33 32 31 29 29 25 25 24 23 10 23 0 Daily Sun/Sun on Daily or Times or Your local Guardian or Metro Daily or Mail/Mail on Sunday Sunday Mirror Sunday daily Observer Sunday Sunday Times Telegraph
Accurate & Reliable Trustworthy Impartial & unbiased Offers range of opinions Helps me make my mind up
Q9c) And to w hat extent do you think the follow ing statements apply to [SOURCE] as a new s source? Answ er using a scale of 1 to 10, w here 1 is not at all and 10 is completely Base: Those w ho use platform to access the new s ‘now adays’ on each type (varies) – Only includes bases over 50. Note: New s sources are ordered by consumption levels. Figure 9.7 Attributes for website/app sources among those who use each source In general, website news users are more likely than users of news on other platforms to rate their chosen source highly for offering a ‘range of opinions’; this is particularly notable for users of Twitter and Facebook. Proportion of users who rated the source highly (7-10) (%) Proportion w ho rated source as important 59% 53% 51% 28% 48% 35% 67% 52% 42% 31% 39% 80 70 70 67 64 62 61 59 61 61 60 54 5553 5554 52 52 50 48 47 48 50 45 4546 45 4445 44 41 40 41 36 35 3537 40 33 34 3432 29 30 29 31 29 30 242424 26 2122 23 22 21 20 20 18 20 15 10 0 BBC website Facebook Sky News YouTube Twitter Daily Mail Guardian or Google Huffington ITV website Yahoo News or app website or website or Observer News Post or app app app website or app Accurate & Reliable Trustworthy Impartial & unbiased Offers range of opinions Helps me make my mind up
Q9c) And to w hat extent do you think the follow ing statements apply to [SOURCE] as a new s source? Answ er using a scale of 1 to 10, w here 1 is not at all and 10 is completely Base: Those w ho use platform to access the new s ‘now adays’ on each type (varies) – Only includes bases over 50. Note: New s sources are ordered by consumption levels. Figure 9.8 Reasons for following news Nearly half (48%) say they follow the news to know what’s going on in the world or in the UK. Around one third (32%) say they do so because it’s important to keep informed about certain issues, down from 42% in 2014. To know what's going on around the world 58% 48% 56% To know what's going on across the UK 48% 49% To know what's going on in my local area 43% 46% To know what's going on in respective nations 43% 42% Because I feel it's important to keep informed about certain issues 32% 35% For information about daily life, e.g. travel, health, taxes, education 24% 32% Because it allows me to form opinions on the important issues 24% 2014 31% To get different perspectives on what's happening 23% 2015 24% Out of habit - it's part of my routine 22% 22% Because it gives me something to talk about with others 15% 22% To be knowledgeable for my job\work\studies 13% 15% Because it provides some fun and entertainment 9% 15% To pass the time when I'm waiting\travelling\commuting\bored 10% 6% I don't follow news 12% Note: boxes in red indicate differences of statistical significance Q2) Thinking about some of the reasons people might have for following news, which of these reasons apply to YOU? Base: All adults 16+ in UK (2921 in 2015, 2731 in 2014) Figure 9.9 Reasons for following news: 16-24s vs. over-55s Those aged 55+ are more likely to nominate most reasons for following the news, with the exception of being knowledgeable for job/work, for fun or entertainment, and to pass the time when waiting/travelling/bored. 43% To know what's going on around the world 53% 43% To know what's going on across the UK 52% 34% To know what's going on in my local area 49% 32% To know what's going on in respective nations 49% 26% Because I feel it s important to keep informed about certain issues 37% 21% For information about daily life, e.g. travel, health, taxes, education 27% 23% Because it allows me to form opinions on the important issues 29% 16 - 24 21% To get different perspectives on what's happening 27% 55+ 18% Out of habit - it's part of my routine 27% 19% To be knowledgeable for my job/work/studies 9% 15% Because it gives me something to talk about with others 20% 9% Because it provides some fun and entertainment 9% 14% To pass the time when I'm waiting/travelling/commuting/bored 8% 16% I don't follow news 7%
Q2) Thinking about some of the reasons people might have for following news, which of these reasons apply to you? Base: All adults 16+ in UK (2921) 10 News consumption in the nations Figure 10.1 Platforms used for news ‘nowadays’, by nation The use of TV for news has decreased across the UK as a whole, while using mobiles for news has increased in England and Scotland and word of mouth has increased in Scotland and Wales. 66%↓(75%) 65% ↓(75%) Television 72%↓(81%) 75% ↓(86%) 29% ↓(39%) 39% Newspapers (printed)* 33% 36% England 31%↓(36%) 37% Scotland Radio 34% 36% Wales 27% Internet or apps on 33% Northern Ireland 27% computer/laptop/netbook 32% 12% 17% Internet or apps on tablet 14% 14% Any of the 4 Internet on 25% ↑(21%) 30% ↑(20%) main any device Internet or apps on a mobile 20% 33% platforms 13% 18% ↑(11%) Word of mouth 20% England 88% (↓94%) 41% 16% ↑(13%) 4% 4% Magazines 5% Scotland 93% 45% 2% 4% 6% Interactive TV, Ceefax, TV apps 4% Wales 91% 38% 2% 11% ↑(5%) 5% N Ireland 93% (↓98%) 49% None of these 8%↑(3%) 6% ↑(2%) Brackets in green indicate differences of statistical significance between 2014 and 2015 Q3a) Which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base 2015: All adults 16+ (2921), England (1782), Scotland (367), Wales (422), NI (350) Base 2014: All adults 16+ (2731), England (1641); Scotland (363); Wales (376); NI (351) 70 Figure 10.2 Average number of news sources used nowadays per platform, by nation Adults in Northern Ireland use more news sources on average (4.3) than those in the other nations.
England = 3.4 (3.8) Scotland = 3.8 (3.9) Wales = 3.6 (4.0) Northern Ireland = 4.3(4.6)
Average number of news sources used nowadays per platform
(1.9) England = 1.9 (2.0) England = 1.9 (1.9) England = 1.5 (1.4) England = 2.1 Scotland = 2.1 (2.0) Scotland = 2.1 (1.9) Scotland = 1.3 (1.4) Scotland = 2.4 (1.9) Wales = 1.9 (2.1) Wales = 2.0 (2.1) Wales = 1.6 (1.4) Wales = 2.2 (2.1) N Ireland = 2.1 (2.2) N Ireland = 2.3 (2.0) N Ireland = 1.6 (1.6) N Ireland = 2.4 (2.3) (2014 figures in brackets)
Q5a) Thinking specifically about < >, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base 2015: All who use each news source (TV=2039, Newspapers=957, Radio=910, Internet=1141). Base 2014: All who use each news source (TV=2136, Newspapers=1160, Radio=990, Internet=1029). Figure 10.3 Single most important news source across all nations Approximately half of respondents in all of the nations nominate a TV channel as their most important news source. The proportion that said a newspaper was their most important news source was higher in Scotland compared to all other nations.
Proportion of respondents (%) England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland 60 TV channel 53% 47% 53% 54% England 50 Newspaper 9% 15% 9% 5% Scotland Radio 12% 10% 12% 11% 40 Wales Website/app 23% 26% 23% 25% 30 3130 Northern Ireland 30 23
20 16 1213 10 8 9 8 10 7 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 2 2 3 2 3 3 2 2 3 2 3 2 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 BBC One ITV/ITV BBC website BBC News Facebook Sky News BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 2 The Sun Google WALES/ or app Channel Channel (general UTV/STV search engine)
Q8a) Looking at all the sources of news you have said that you use, which one is most important to you personally. *’Others’ includes sources below 1%. Base: All who use any news source nowadays (England=1546, Scotland=334, Wales=384, Northern Ireland=324). Note: at the platform level, Scotland is significantly different from all other nations for newspapers. There were no other significant differences for any other platforms. Figure 10.4 Single most personally important news source, by nation Around half (51%) of people in England and Scotland rate a BBC source as their most personally important news source.
Cross-platform reach (%) WHOLESALE 60 51 51 47 43 40
18 19 20 20 1515 12 14 13 6 6 4 3 4 3 3 3 4 4 3 3 2 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 2 0
England Scotland Wales N Ireland
Base: All who use a news source nowadays in England (2120), Scotland (228), Wales (128) and Northern Ireland (76) Note: Wholesale is classified as the company that provides the news for the given source, and is derived from responses given about individual news titles. Note: We no longer consider it appropriate to aggregate all use of commercial radio for news to Sky as a wholesale provider, as was the case in our 2014 report. We now consider that Global Radio and Bauer Radio are wholesale providers of news and are therefore presented on this chart at the wholesale level. Please see the introductory slide to section 8 for more details. Figure 10.5 Level of interest in news about nation 45% of those in Scotland say they are very interested in news about their nation, compared to 37% in Wales, 35% in Northern Ireland and 28% in England. Proportion of respondents (%) 100% 1% 0 2% 4% 3% 5% 4% 8% 90% 10% 10% 10% 10% 80% 11% 9%
70% 37% 60% 43% 41% 50% 47%
40%
30% 45% 20% 37% 35% 28% 10%
0% England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland
Very interested Quite interested Neither interested nor uninterested Not very interested Not at all interested Don’t know Note: significance testing has been carried out between nations QN1) How interested are you in news about
36% BBC One 33% 41% 55% 17% ITV/STV/ITV Wales/UTV 20% 26% 40% 9% England BBC website or app 12% 9% 18% Scotland 7% Facebook 9% 8%10% Wales 4% BBC News Channel 4% N Ireland 3%4% 3% Any local daily paper 1% England Scotland Wales NI 2%3% 2% TV channel 53% 57% 63% 69% Sky News Channel 2% 6% 1% Website/app 22% 27% 19% 33% 2% Heart FM 2%3% Radio 10% 16% 17% 27%
Google (General search 2%3% Daily newspaper 8% 19% 10% 16% engine) 3%4% Weekly newspaper 2% 7% 6% 10% Any BBC local\regional radio 2% station Other local commercial radio 2%4% station 1% 6% QN2) From w hich of the follow ing sources do you get new s that about w hat is going on in
20% 20% 17% 17% 16% 16%
11% 11% 10% 10% 9% 10%
0% Television Internet or apps Radio Newspapers
Base 2015: All who use a news source nowadays in UK (2588) England (1546), Scotland (334), Wales (384) and Northern Ireland (324). Base 2014: All who use a news source nowadays in UK (2580) England (1538), Scotland (339), Wales (359) and Northern Ireland (344). Note: 2014 figures only shown where there are statistically significant differences between 2014 and 2015 Figure 10.9 Wholesale share of references, by nation The share of references for wholesale providers is relatively even across all the nations, however, the share of references for the BBC is significantly higher in Wales than the rest of the nations.
Share of references (%) 60 WHOLESALE
50 England 50 44 Scotland 39 40 40 Wales Northern Ireland 30 24 21 22 20 18 15 13 1112 10 6 6 5 6 5 5 4 4 4 3 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 3 3 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 BBC ITN Sky Global DMGT News Corp Guardian Trinity Mirror Bauer Lebedev Telegraph Northern & Other Radio Media Foundation Media Shell Gro up 2015 Base: All who use a news source for news nowadays (2588), England (1546), Scotland (334), Wales (384) and Northern Ireland (324) Note: Wholesale is classified as the company that provides the news for the given source. Note: We no longer consider it appropriate to aggregate all use of commercial radio for news to Sky as a wholesale provider, as was the case in our 2014 report. We now consider that Global Radio and Bauer Radio are wholesale providers of news and are therefore presented on this chart at the wholesale level. Please see the introductory slide to section 8 for more details. Figure 10.10 Retail share of references, by nation The share of references for retail providers across the nations was relatively similar, although the BBC share of references is larger in Wales than the rest of the UK. The share of references for Facebook in England has risen by four percentage points since 2014. Share of references (%) RETAIL 60 48 50 44 39 40 England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland 40 30 ↑(3%) 20 1113 8 9 8 7 8 10 7 6 6 6 5 6 6 6 5 5 6 6 4 3 3 4 4 3 4 4 3 2 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 4 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 0 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ITV Sky BBC Mirror Trinity Corp DMGT News Twitter Other Google Pearson & Shell Media Radio Northern Facebook Channel 4 Channel Lebedev Telegraph Guardian Foundation Media Group Media **Commercial Google News) Google *Aggregators (excl *Aggregators Channel 5 (Viacom) Channel
2014 figures are shown when statistically different to 2015 figures (excl Engines Search Google Search Engine) Search Google 2015 Base: All who use a news source for news nowadays (2588), England (1546), Scotland (334), Wales (384) and Northern Ireland (324) Note: Retail is classified as the owner of the branded title/service through which the news is provided (except the two generic categories ‘commercial radio’, ‘aggregators’). *News Now and BuzzFeed included in 2015 **Other local commercial, Smooth Radio, LBC, Magic, Kiss included in 2015 Figure 10.11 Wholesale cross-platform audience reach, by nation 81% of news users in Northern Ireland use BBC, compared to eight in ten (80%) in Wales, 77% in England and 72% in Scotland. Cross-platform reach (%) WHOLESALE 100
8081 80 77 72 64 57 60 ↓(50%)
43 44 3739 40 ↓(17%) ↓(22%) ↓(26%) 34 33
20 1820 20 16 1517 16 12 14 131414 1313 12 11 111110 9 7 7 7 6 6 4 3 4 4 3 4 3 4 5 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 2 0 0 0 BBC ITN News Corp Sky Northern & DMGT Trinity Global Telegraph Guardian Lebedev Bauer Pearson Other Shell Mirro r Media Media Foundation Gro up 2014 figures are shown where statistically different to 2015 England Scotland Wales N Ireland Base: All who use a news source for news nowadays (2588), England (1546), Scotland (334), Wales (384) and Northern Ireland (324) Note: Wholesale is classified as the company that provides the news for the given source, and is derived from responses given about individual news titles. Note: We no longer consider it appropriate to aggregate all use of commercial radio for news to Sky as a wholesale provider, as was the case in our 2014 report. We now consider that Global Radio and Bauer Radio are wholesale providers of news and are therefore presented on this chart at the wholesale level. Please see the introductory slide to section 8 for more details. Figure 10.12 Top 20 news sources by reach: England 47% of adults in England say they use BBC One for news, a decrease since 2014 (52%). Use of Facebook for news has increased from 6% to 12%. % of all adults in England 2014 BBC One 47% ↓52% ITV 26% ↓31% BBC website or app 22% BBC News Channel 14% Sky News Channel 12% ↓17% Facebook 12% ↑6% BBC Radio 4 8% BBC Radio 2 8% TV channel Channel 4 8% The Sun 6% Newspaper ↓10% Google (General search Engine) 6% ↓9% Sky News website or app 6% The Daily Mail 6% Radio station ↓9% BBC Two 5% BBC Radio 1 4% Website / app ↓8% The Metro 4% The Daily Mirror 4% YouTube 4% Twitter 4% The Guardian\Observer website or app 4%
Q5a-e) Thinking specifically about
% of all adults in Scotland 2014 BBC One 46% ↓55% ITV/STV 27% ↓37% BBC website or app 26% Sky News Channel 16% Facebook 15% ↑7% BBC News Channel 11% The Daily Record 10% TV channel BBC Radio 4 9% Channel 4 8% Newspaper Google (General search Engine) 8% ↑1% The Sun 7% ↓13% BBC Radio Scotland 7% Radio station Sky News website or app 6% The Daily Mail 6% Website / app YouTube 6% Other local commercial radio station(s) 6% BBC Radio 2 6% The Sunday Mail 6% BBC Radio 1 5% The Guardian\Observer website or app 5%
Q5a-e) Thinking specifically about
% of all adults in Wales 2014 BBC One 55% ITV/ITV WALES 35% BBC website or app 22% Facebook 12% BBC Radio 2 11% Google (General search Engine) 8% Sky News Channel 8% TV Channel BBC Radio 4 8% The Daily Mail 8% The Sun 8% Newspaper BBC Radio 1 7% BBC News Channel 7% Radio Station Sky News website or app 6% Heart FM 6% Website / app ↑2% BBC Radio Wales or Cymru 6% The Daily Mirror 6% BBC Two 6% S4C 5% The Daily Mail website or app 4% The Mail on Sunday 4%
Q5a-e) Thinking specifically about
Q5a-e) Thinking specifically about
2014 figures are shown when significantly different
Figures in red are significantly different to those in purple. Figures in black are not statistically significant differences. Applies to rows only.
Q5a) Thinking specifically about television, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use TV for news Figure 10.17 TV channels used for news, by nation Al Jazeera is used by 4% of news users in England and Scotland and 2% in Wales and Northern Ireland. England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Unweighted base 1203 252 317 267 Fox News * 1% * 1% CNBC * 1% * * Euronews (English version) 1% 1% * 1% Al Jazeera (English version) 4% 4% 2% 2% Al Jazeera (Arabic version) * 1% * - RT (Russia Today) (new to 2015) 2% 2% 1% 1% BBC Parliament 2% 1% 2% 2% Bangla TV * - 1% - Arab News Network * 1% - - TF1 - 1% - - France 24 * - 1% 1% CCTV News (China) * 1% - 1% Bloomberg TV (new to 2015) * 2% 1% - Other channel(s) 1% 1% 1% 1%
Figures in red are significantly different to those in purple. Figures in black are not statistically significant differences. Applies to rows only.
Q5a) Thinking specifically about television, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use TV for news Figure 10.18 UK-wide daily newspapers used for news, by nation Around one in five newspaper readers read The Sun across all the nations.
England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Unweighted base 532 151 145 129 The Sun 20% 18% 23% 23% The Daily Mail 19% 15% 23% 18% The Daily Star 5% - (↓5%) 3% 8% The Daily Express 5% 5% 5% 3% The Daily Mirror 14% * 17% 15% The Guardian 8% 10% 5% 6% The Independent 3% 4% 4% 1% The 'i' 5% 5% 6% 1% The Times 9% 8% 8% 13% The Daily Telegraph 9% 4% 6% 6% The Financial Times 1% 1% - 1% The Morning Star - * 1% -
2014 figures are shown when significantly different Figures in red are significantly different to those in purple. Figures in black are not statistically significant differences. Applies to rows only.
Q5b) Thinking specifically about daily newspapers, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use newspapers for news Figure 10.19 National and regional daily newspapers used for news, by nation One quarter (25%) of those who use newspapers for news in Scotland use the Daily Record. The same proportion of those in Northern Ireland use the Belfast Telegraph for news. England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Unweighted base 532 151 145 129 The Herald - 7% - - The Scotsman - 4% - - The Daily Record - 25% - - The National (new to 2015) - 3% - - The Press and Journal (Aberdeen) - 9% - - The Courier and Advertiser (Dundee) - 5% - - The Belfast Telegraph - - - 26% The Irish News - - - 14% The News Letter - - - 4%a The Western Mail - - 7% - The Daily Post - Wales - - 5% - The South Wales Evening Post - - 2%a - South Wales Echo (new to 2015) - - 4%a - The Metro 14% 6% 2% 1% The Evening Standard 7% (↑3%) - - 1% Any local daily newspaper 12% 5% 6% 15% 2014 figures are shown when significantly different Figures in red are significantly different to those in purple. Figures in black are not statistically significant differences. Applies to rows only.
Q5b) Thinking specifically about daily newspapers, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use newspapers for news Figure 10.20 UK-wide weekly newspapers used for news, by nation Those who use newspapers for news in Wales are more likely to use The Mail on Sunday than those in Northern Ireland. Compared to 2014, those in England are less likely to use The Sun on Sunday for news (14% to 9%) England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Unweighted base 532 151 145 129 The Sun on Sunday 9% (↓14%) 8% 9% 6% The Mail on Sunday 10% 9% 14% 4% The Daily Star on Sunday 3% - 3% - The Sunday Express 2% * 2% 1% The Sunday Mirror 7% 1% 9% 11% The Observer 5% 3% 5% 5% The Independent on Sunday 1% 2% 1% 1% The Sunday Times 7% 9% 10% 19% The Sunday Telegraph 4% 1% 3% 2% The People 2% * 3% 1%
2014 figures are shown when significantly different
Figures in red are significantly different to those in purple. Figures in black are not statistically significant differences. Applies to rows only.
Q5c) Thinking specifically about weekly newspapers, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use newspapers for news Figure 10.21 National and regional weekly newspapers used for news, by nation Those in Wales are more likely than those in other nations to read local paid weekly newspapers.
England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Unweighted base 532 151 145 129 The Sunday Herald - 7% - - The Sunday Post - 10% - - The Sunday Mail - 14% - - Scotland on Sunday - 3% - - Wales on Sunday - - 6% - Sunday Life - - - 10% Sunday World - - - 10% Any local paid weekly paper 4% 4% 11% 3% Any local free weekly newspaper 1% * 2% 1%
Figures in red are significantly different to those in purple. Figures in black are not statistically significant differences. Applies to rows only.
Q5c) Thinking specifically about weekly newspapers, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use newspapers for news Figure 10.22 BBC radio stations used for news, by nation In England and Wales BBC Radio 2 is more likely to be used as a source of news than in Scotland and Northern Ireland. BBC Radio 4 has seen an increase since 2014 as a source of news in Wales (10% to 23%). Radio Ulster is more likely to be used for news than the equivalent BBC nations’ radio stations in Scotland and Wales.
England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Unweighted base 524 123 138 125 BBC Radio 4 27% 24% 23% (↑10%) 18% BBC Radio 3 2% 2% 1% 1% BBC Radio 2 27% 15% 34% 14% BBC Radio 1 14% 14% 21% 13% BBC Asian Network 2% - - - BBC Radio 5 Live 7% 5% 7% 4% BBC World Service 3% 4% 1% 1% BBC Radio 6 Music (new to 2015) 2% * 1% 1% BBC Radio Scotland / BBC Radio Wales or Cymru / BBC Radio Ulster * 18% 16% 42% Any BBC local\regional radio station 9% - 1% -
2014 figures are shown when significantly different Figures in red are significantly different to those in purple. Figures in green are significantly different from those in red and purple. Figures in black are not statistically significant differences. Applies to rows only.
Q5d) Thinking specifically about radio stations which of the following do you use for news nowadays Base: All who use radio for news Figure 10.23 Commercial radio stations used for news, by nation Heart FM is more likely to be used as a source of news in Wales than in any other nation. Cool FM is used by around one quarter of radio listeners in Northern Ireland for news.
England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Unweighted base 524 123 138 125 LBC (new to 2015) 4% 1% - - Heart FM 10% 7% (↑0%) 18% 1% Absolute Radio 3% 1% 1% 5% Capital 8% 13% 6% 1% Real Radio 1% 4% 5% - Kiss (new to 2015) 4% - 4% - Smooth Radio (new to 2015) 5% 5% - - Magic (new to 2015) 4% - 2% - Cool FM - - - 26% Radio Pembrokeshire - - 4% - Radio Carmarthenshire - - 2% - Classic FM 6% 3% 2% 5% Talksport 4% 2% 3% 4% Other local commercial radio station(s) (new to 2015) 7% 15% 4% 20% Other radio station(s) e.g. local or foreign ones * - 1% 1%
2014 figures are shown when significantly different Figures in red are significantly different to those in purple. Figures in green are significantly different from those in red and purple. Figures in black are not statistically significant differences. Applies to rows only. Q5d) Thinking specifically about radio stations which of the following do you use for news nowadays Base: All who use radio for news Figure 10.24 TV and newspaper internet sources used for news, by nation Internet news users across the nations are most likely to use the BBC website or app as a source for news, followed by the Sky News website or app.
England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Unweighted base 694 143 147 157 BBC website or app 55% 58% 59% 60% ITV or ITN website or app 6% 5% 9% 3% STV Website or app - 3% - - UTV Website or app - - - 5% (↓14%) Channel 4 website or app 2% 2% 3% 2% Sky News website or app 14% 14% 16% 14% CNN Website or app 1% 3% 1% 4% The Sun website or app 2% - 2% 1% The Daily Mail website or app 8% 8% 12% 14% The Daily Star website or app * - 1% 1% The Daily Express website or app * - - 1% The Daily Mirror website or app 1% - 1% 2% The Guardian\Observer website or app 9% 11% 5% 10% The Independent website or app 3% 4% 3% 1% The Times\Sunday Times website or app 2% 4% 2% 1% The Telegraph website or app 3% 4% 5% 2% The Financial Times website or app 1% 2% - - The Metro website or app 2% 1% 1% - The New York Times website or app * 1% - 1% The Washington Post website or app (new to 2015) 1% 1% - * Time.com website or app (new to 2015) * 1% - - The Atlantic website or app (new to 2015) * - - 1% Figures in red are significantly different to those in purple. Figures in green are significantly different from those in red and purple. Figures in black are not statistically significant differences. Applies to rows only. Q5e) Thinking specifically about the internet, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use internet for news . Note: 2014 figures are shown in blue when significantly different Figure 10.25 Other internet sources used for news, by nation In England and Scotland, there has been a significant increase in those using the Facebook as a source for news, when compared to 2014.
England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland Unweighted base 694 143 147 157 Facebook 29% (↑16%) 34%(↑19%) 31% 29% Twitter 9% 9% 9% 10% Google News (search engine just for news) 9% 4% 5% 2% (↓10%) Yahoo news 5% 6% 7% 6% MSN news 4% 4% 4% 5% AOL news 1% 1% * 1% YouTube 10% 12% 9% 6% Feedly app - 1% - - Flipboard app 1% 2% - - BuzzFeed (new to 2015) 3% 6% 5% 6% Vice (new to 2015) 1% 1% 1% 1% Personal blog (new to 2015) 1% 3% - - Google (General search Engine) 14% (↓21%) 17%(↑3%) 21% 22%(↑6%) Huffington Post 5% 6% 6% 7% Any local newspaper websites or apps 3% 2% 2% 2% Any Scotland based websites or apps - 7% - - Any Wales based news websites or apps - - 2% - Any Northern Ireland based news websites or apps - - - 13% Other site that combines news links * - 1% 1% Other website(s) or app(s) 2% 1% 3% 2% Figures in red are significantly different to those in purple. Figures in black are not statistically significant differences. Applies to rows only. Q5e) Thinking specifically about the internet, which of the following do you use for news nowadays? Base: All who use internet for news. Note: 2014 figures are shown in blue when significantly different