Internet Citizens 2015

Published: December 2015 Introduction

• This report provides an update to our 2014 Internet Citizens publication and gives an overview of people’s online use of services and content in a range of citizen-orientated areas. Alongside this slide pack there is a written executive summary.

• Ofcom has a principal duty to further the interests of citizens, and this includes seeking to ensure that people have access to the services and content they need in order to participate fully in society. This report provides an overview of people’s online use of such services and content in selected areas.

• As in 2014, we have focused on a number of core topics to provide a breadth of comparative analysis. These include: government services, health information, education, public service broadcasters and news organisations, citizen journalism and arts and cultural organisations and activities. It is challenging to create a fully comprehensive and universally-accepted list of online citizen-related content and services. We do not claim such comprehensiveness here and welcome feedback on what else might be included. Nonetheless, we have selected some core categories that, taken together, can be seen to represent a landscape of broadly citizen-orientated content and services that enable participation in society.

• It should be noted that the report focuses largely on the more mainstream or major providers of this type of content. This is in large part because measuring smaller, grassroots citizen initiatives is by definition more difficult. Despite their potentially limited scale, we note that these grassroots providers may nevertheless generate significant value to citizens.

1 Sources

• We draw from a range of data sources – in particular comScore, the online measurement system. We have used ComScore’s multi-platform data (MMX-MP) in order to capture internet activity across mobiles and tablets as well as desktops and laptops. Data are de-duplicated to provide information on the number of individual users, regardless of whether those users are accessing websites across multiple devices or from multiple browsers. Due to methodological changes in the way that consumption on mobile devices is measured we focus on data from the first half of 2015, and predominantly from June 2015. These changes also mean it is not possible to compare comScore data with that in the 2014 report.

• We also draw on a range of other data sources: – Ofcom: Adults’ media use and attitudes report http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media- literacy/media-lit-10years/2015_Adults_media_use_and_attitudes_report.pdf – UK Government: data on UK government websites www.gov.uk/performance with additional material from the Cabinet Office – Scottish Government: data on Scottish Government websites recorded by Google Analytics and provided by Scottish Government – Wales Government: data on Welsh Government websites provided by Welsh Government. – Northern Ireland Government: data on Northern Ireland Government websites recorded by Google Analytics and WebTrends and provided by NI Government. – DCMS: Taking Part Survey – data on participation in digital cultural activities in England https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/476156/Taking_Part_201415_Focus_o n_Digital_engagement.pdf – Office for National Statistics (ONS): Internet Access – Households and Individuals 2015 – data on online activities of people in Britain http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_412758.pdf – Digital R&D Fund for the Arts: data on the online activities of a range of arts and cultural organisations in England http://artsdigitalrnd.org.uk/features/digitalculture2014/ – Local Web List: directory of hyperlocal websites available at http://localweblist.net/

2 comScore Methodology

• The UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM) was formed in 2009 with a mandate from the advertising industry to establish measurement standards for digital media. In 2011, comScore was appointed the sole data supplier for UKOM under a three-year contract from January 2013. comScore MMX MP™ uses comScore MMX Multi-Platform to analyse website and app use across laptop/desktop computers, mobiles and tablets. The digital audience is an unduplicated unique audience between each of these devices, and the unique viewers of videos on laptop/desktop computers. Its methodology combines internet traffic, captured from a panel of internet users, with website interaction data from website publishers, in order to provide a projection of which websites people are visiting and how long they are spending browsing web pages. This is comScore’s Unified Digital Measurement™ (UDM) methodology.

• Throughout this report web entities are followed by a letter in square brackets e.g. [C]. This letter designates where in a ‘hierarchy’ of web entities a particular entity sits. This hierarchy is comScore’s dictionary. A property [P] is the legal parent of any web entities that sit within it, such as a media title [M], channel [C], or group [G]. How the entities of a property are defined in comScore’s dictionary is determined by the properties themselves. As such, while there are similarities between different entities at a similar dictionary level, they are not always equivalent.

• The comScore metrics used in this report are: – Unique audience: the total number of unique persons who have visited a website or used an application at least once in a given month. Persons visiting the same website more than once are therefore counted only once in this measure – Active reach (%): the unique audience of a website as a proportion of the total number of people who visited any website, or used any internet-connected application, at least once in a given month (the active audience). – Time spent per month: the average time spent browsing a website per unique visitor per month (excludes time spent watching online video and listening to streamed audio).

3 Contents

Section Contents Slide number

1 Government and politics 5

2 Health information 19

3 Education 24 Media – public service broadcasting, news, citizen 4 30 journalism (including blogging) and hyperlocal Culture – heritage, arts, archives, museums, galleries 5 38 and libraries

4 1 Government and politics

This series of slides show a range of data from the data services departments of the UK and devolved governments. Given the different types of government service site, and the different types of metrics provided here, including variation in the time periods used, it is not possible to compare these figures across the nations.

5 GOV.UK

Figure 1.1: Visitors to GOV.UK by device, Jan-June 2015

According to the performance statistics of GOV.UK, it received nearly 48 million unique visits in June 2015. Of these, 27 million accessed it via a desktop, 14 million via a mobile, and nearly 6 million by a tablet. These numbers are high – representing indeed around the number of active internet users in the UK – but the figures include overseas visitors, and the data isn’t “de-duplicated”, so that people that access from different devices will be counted multiple times. Unique visitors (millions) 60.0

50.0 47.67 44.01 41.61 41.66 42.41 5.86 38.99 5.72 40.0 5.44 5.25 5.27 5.15 14.35 12.81 30.0 10.88 12.77 12.83 Tablet 10.62 Mobile Desktop 20.0

27.46 25.28 23.22 25.49 23.64 24.31 10.0

0.0 Jan-15 Feb March April May June Source: www..gov.uk/performance with additional data from the Cabinet Office.

6 GOV.UK Figure 1.2: Top ten UK ministerial departments by visitors, June 2015 The Foreign Office was the most-visited ministerial department in June 2015 by a considerable margin. The Department for Education was visited by 0.82 million, and the Department for Work and Pensions by 0.7 million 1.4 Users(millions) 1.26 1.2

1.0

0.82 0.8 0.70 0.63 0.6 0.44 0.43 0.40 0.38 0.4 0.34 0.31 0.26 0.2

- Foreign DfE DWP Home CO BIS Defra MoD DfT DCLG HMT Office Office Source: www..gov.uk/performance with additional data from the Cabinet Office. Note: Data collected between June 2nd and June 30th 2015. This data covers only department and policy content found on /government and /guidance URLs. Mainstream content, that with a wider appeal such as services and information like 'next Bank Holiday' for example, is not included. In cases where multiple departments share content, visitors who access that content will only be recorded for one department only; consequently, some departments’ number of visitors may be undercounted.

7 GOV.UK

Figure 1.3: Top ten home pages on GOV.UK, June 2015

In June 2015, the job search home page was the most-viewed, with 4.5 million unique page views. The vehicle tax home page was next, with 3.9 million unique page views, followed by the HMRC home page with 3 million unique page views.

Rank Page Unique page views 1. /jobsearch 4,542,018

2. /vehicle-tax 3,867,455

3. /government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs 3,002,088

4. /government/organisations/companies-house 2,000,602

5. /view-driving-licence 1,791,574

6. /get-information-about-a-company 1,614,367 7. /browse/driving 1,601,765 8. /log-in-register-hmrc-online-services 1,527,654 9. /check-vehicle-tax 1,520,022

10. /browse/visas-immigration 1,454,912

Source: www..gov.uk/performance with additional data from the Cabinet Office Note: this data covers only department and policy content found on /government and /guidance URLs; mainstream content with a wider appeal (such as information like 'next Bank Holiday‘) is not included. In cases where content is shared between multiple departments, only one of the departments will have been recorded as having received a page view.

8 GOV.SCOT

Figure 1.4: Key metrics for GOV.SCOT, Jan-June 2015

www.gov.scot covers the responsibilities of the Scottish Government including health, education, justice, rural affairs, housing and the environment. According to data from the Scottish Government, there were 488,858 unique users to the portal in June 2015. Seven in ten of these sessions were via a desktop (72%), 17% from a mobile phone and 11% from a tablet.

Unique users, Jan-June 2015 Share of use by device, June 2015

645,896 634,594 602,893 Type of device % sessions 547,438 532,967 488,858 Desktop 72 Mobile phone 17

Tablet 11

Jan Feb Mar April May June

Source: website analytics from Scottish Government Note: This data excludes the Scottish Government Blogs, News and Consultations websites (http://blogs.scotland.gov.uk / http://news.scotland.gov.uk / http://consult.scotland.gov.uk). Please note that www.mygov.scot is the place for people in Scotland to access public services that are easy to find and simple to use. It has not been included in these statistics as it was only made available as a live product in September 2015.

9 GOV.SCOT

Figure 1.5: Top 10 pages on GOV.SCOT by topic, Jan-June 2015

The most-viewed pages on gov.scot between January and June 2015 were bank holidays (159,065 unique page views), recent publications (152,773) and then a page setting out the Scottish approach to devolved taxes (87,824).

Unique Topic Page Page views People & Society http://www.gov.scot/topics/people/bank-holidays 159,065 Publications http://www.gov.scot/publications/recent 152,773 Public Sector http://www.gov.scot/topics/government/finance/scottishapproach/lbtt 87,824 Built http://www.gov.scot/topics/built- Environment environment/housing/buyingselling/help-to-buy 85,421 People & Society http://www.gov.scot/topics/people/welfarereform/scottishwelfarefund 51,577 People & Society http://www.gov.scot/topics/people/young-people/gettingitright 50,779 About http://www.gov.scot/about 46,218 Built http://www.gov.scot/topics/built-environment/building/building- Environment standards 45,076 Built http://www.gov.scot/topics/built-environment/building/building- Environment standards/publications/pubtech 41,796 http://www.gov.scot/topics/built-environment/building/building- Publications standards/publications/pubtech 41,796

Source: website analytics from Scottish Government Note: This data excludes the Scottish Government Blogs, News and Consultations websites (http://blogs.scotland.gov.uk / http://news.scotland.gov.uk / http://consult.scotland.gov.uk).

10 GOV.WALES

Figure 1.6: GOV.WALES metrics summary, Jan-June 2015

GOV.WALES is the corporate site for the Welsh Government, communicating its policies and activities. The site also acts as a signpost to many transactional services available to people living in Wales. From January-June 2015, the GOV.WALES site was accessed by 1.1 million unique users. In June 2015 the figure was 185,679. Nearly six in ten of these users were from Wales, and four in ten from England. Three quarters of sessions were carried out on a desktop, 15% on a mobile, and 11% on a tablet.

Page views Unique users Unique users Jan-June 15 Jan-June 15 June 15

GOV.WALES 7,560,489 1,109,116 185,679

Location of users Type of device % % sessions Jan-June 2015 Jan-June 2015 Wales 57 Desktop 74 England 41 Mobile phone 15 Scotland 1.6 Tablet 11 Northern Ireland 0.6

Source: Data provided by Welsh Government. Figures exclude internal use by Welsh Government staff/ web team

11 GOV.WALES

Figure 1.7: Top topic areas and pages on GOV.WALES, Jan-June 2015

Thematically, the most popular topics in Jan-June 2015 on GOV.WALES related to Education and Skills (523,423 unique page views) and the Environment and Countryside (372,257). These two topics represented half of all unique page views to the GOV.WALES site. The top pages during this period were for rural payments (99,855 unique page views) and for recruitment (51,960 unique page views).

Share of Share of Unique page Topic areas unique page Unique page unique views Page areas Page URL views views page views Education and Skills 523,423 30.11% http://gov.wales/topics/en Rural Payments vironmentcountryside/far Environment and 99,855 2.46% 372,257 21.41% Wales online mingandcountryside/rpwo Countryside nline/?lang=en http://gov.wales/about/rec Health 202,164 11.63% Recruitment ruitment/vacancies/?lang 51,960 1.28% Planning 126,633 7.28% =en http://gov.wales/topics/loc Local council 5.32% algovernment/councils-to- 38,991 0.96% Local Government 92,504 changes change/?lang=en http://gov.wales/topics/ed Education and ucationandskills/?lang=e 35,093 0.87% Skills n http://gov.wales/topics/ed ucationandskills/earlyyear Early years shome/foundation- 31,057 0.77% foundation phase phase/?lang=en

Source: Data provided by Welsh Government

12 nidirect.gov.uk

Figure 1.8: nidirect.gov.uk metrics summary, June 2015

nidirect.gov.uk is the official government services and information website for people living in Northern Ireland, with nibusinessinfo.co.uk providing the official online channel for business advice and guidance. In addition to these two, each of the 12 government departments has retained its own web presence for more corporate information. nidirect provides information on all areas of government activity, allowing Northern Irish citizens to, for instance, book an MOT or driving test, get benefits advice, or research their family history.

The nidirect site had 1.9 million unique users in June 2015. Over one-third of these were returning users (37%).

Sessions Unique users Page views New visitor Returning visitor

nidirect.gov.uk 2,395,796 1,888,704 4,651,921 63.30% 36.70%

Source: Data provided by nidirect data team from Google Analytics

13 nidirect.gov.uk

Figure 1.9: Top ten themes and pages, nidirect.gov.uk, June 2015 Thematically, the most popular themes in June 2015 related to motoring (568,311 sessions), then employment (303,082) and then money, tax and benefits (195,059). The most popular article in June 2015 was how to book an MOT/vehicle test appointment (154,805 page views); then information about restrictions on what is possible to take on a flight (75,007), calculating the state pension age (57,513) and national minimum wage rates (41,181).

Themes Sessions Page views Articles Page views How do I book an MOT/Vehicle Test Motoring 568,311 1,049,592 154,805 Appointment? Employment 303,082 491,213 Dangerous and restricted items: what you 75,007 cannot take on board a flight Money, tax and benefits 195,059 387,296 Calculating your State Pension age 57,513 Contacts 160,245 341,599 The National Minimum Wage rates 41,181 Pensions and retirement 153,866 317,773 planning The photocard driving licence explained 35,564 Travel and transport 144,389 216,736 Calculating holiday entitlement 29,630 How to book, change or cancel your theory People with disabilities 118,896 240,898 32,924 test appointment Parents 98,451 157,820 Disability Living Allowance - rates and how to 31,291 claim Government, citizens and rights 96,227 175,606 Air travel hand baggage rules 27,172 Education and learning 81,212 164,507 Sick pay rights 25,425

Source: Data provided by nidirect data team from Google Analytics

14 nidirect.gov.uk

Figure 1.10: Northern Ireland departmental sites, June 2015 The Department of Finance and Personnel was the most-visited site in June 2015, followed by the Department of Education and the Department of Agricultural and Rural Development.

Department Visitors Visits Department of Finance and Personnel (dfpni.gov.uk) 214,681 332,390 Department of Education (deni.gov.uk) 163,948 231,074 Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (dardni.gov.uk) 126,092 209,349 Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety 121,954 168,238 (dhsspsni.gov.uk) Department of the Environment (doeni.gov.uk) 120,907 172,648 Department for Social Development (dsdni.gov.uk) 79,702 117,567 Department for Employment and Learning (delni.gov.uk) 60,610 53,677 Department of Justice (dojni.gov.uk) 48,643 85,600 Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (detini.gov.uk) 45,191 64,354 Department for Regional Development (drdni.gov.uk) 30,564 46,314 Office of the First and deputy First Minister (ofmdfmni.gov.uk) 23,749 34,993 Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (dcalni.gov.uk) Not Not available available

Source: Data provided by nidirect data team from WebTrends

15 Figure 1.11: Use of online public/civic services: 2013-14 Over three quarters of internet users in 2014 said they ever go online for information about government services (+8pp on the previous year) while almost seven in ten (69%) said that they completed government processes online (+8 pp). There were considerable increases in the percentage of internet users saying they looked at political sites, or had signed an online petition, since 2013. 78

70 69 69 Less frequently 25 61 At least every 3 months 56 22 30 35 Weekly 44 24 33 35 36 31 29 17 30 19 22 19 22 27 14 22 15 13 12 13 18 17 9 10 9 11 9 10 6 8 6 6 4 2 4 31 2 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2014 Finding Looking at Complete Looking at Sign an online Contact a local information about websites/ apps government political / petition councillor or public services for news about processes campaign/ your MP online provided by local or events in the online issues or national local area/ the websites government local community

Source: Ofcom Adults media use and attitudes report 2015, fieldwork carried out by Saville Rossiter-Base in October to November 2014 IN15/ 16 -From this list please tell me the types of things you currently do online and how often you do each? (Prompted responses, single coded) Base: All adults aged 16+ who go online at home or elsewhere (1272 in 2013, 1609 in 2014) - Significance testing shows any change between 2013 and 2014

16 Figure 1.12: Use of selected petitions and freedom of information (FoI) sites Online petition services such as Change.org, 38 Degrees and Avaaz.org allow citizens to create and respond to online petitions which are submitted to by site operators to the relevant organisation. Change.org had the highest audience at 3.3 million in June 2015 (7% active reach), followed by 38degrees.org (1.2 million unique visitors).

Whatdotheyknow.com (accessed by 0.6% of the digital audience in June 2015) is designed to make it simple for citizens to request information held by public bodies under Freedom of Information legislation. A related site theyworkforyou.com allows citizens to search the voting records of parliamentarians and track the process of legislation, and was accessed by 0.2 million unique users in June 2015. Both of these sites are run by MySociety, a not-for-profit civic technology organisation. Unique Unique audience (millions) Active June 2015 visitors 4 Reach % (millions)

CHANGE.ORG [P] 3.3 6.9 3 38DEGREES.ORG.UK [P] 1.2 2.5 2 WHATDOTHEYKNOW.COM [P] 0.3 0.6

1 AVAAZ.ORG [P] 0.2 0.4

THEYWORKFORYOU.COM [P] 0.2 0.3 0 Jan-2015 Feb-2015 Mar-2015 Apr-2015 May-2015 Jun-2015 CHANGE.ORG [P] 38DEGREES.ORG.UK [P] WHATDOTHEYKNOW.COM [P] AVAAZ.ORG [P] THEYWORKFORYOU.COM [P] Source: comScore MMX-MP January – June 2015 17 Figure 1.13: Unique visitors to selected petitions and FoI sites, June 2015 Visitors in June 2015 to petition sites Avaaz.org, 38Dregree.org.uk and Change.org were more likely to be aged 55 or over. With the exception of visitors to Freedom of Information (FoI) submission site Whatdotheyknow.com, in June 2015 more women than men visited the FoI and petitions sites. Three quarters of visitors to Theyworkforyou.com were made by women.

Unique audience (%)

CHANGE.ORG [P] 0 11% 15% 14% 18% 40% Under 18 18-24 38DEGREES.ORG.UK [P] 05% 20% 16% 17% 42% 25-34 WHATDOTHEYKNOW.COM [P] 0 8% 28% 37% 22% 5% 35-44 AVAAZ.ORG [P] 3% 16% 18% 20% 41% 0 45-54 THEYWORKFORYOU.COM [P] 02% 14% 24% 46% 14% 55+

CHANGE.ORG [P] 37% 63% 38DEGREES.ORG.UK [P] 36% 64% Male WHATDOTHEYKNOW.COM [P] 53% 47% Female AVAAZ.ORG [P] 37% 63% THEYWORKFORYOU.COM [P] 25% 75%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Source: comScore MMX-MP June 2015 18 2 Health information

19 Figure 2.1: Finding out information about health issues

According to Ofcom’s 2015 Adults Media Use and Attitudes report, in 2014 almost eight in ten (78%) adult internet users said they had ever used the internet to access health information, while 16% said did this on at least a weekly basis. Weekly use had increased since 2013. Adults aged 25-34 were most likely to use such sites.

Internet users who say they find information about health- Age breakdown of weekly use related issues (%) 78 Age group % 70 All 16

16-24 12 62 At least every 61 25-34 22 3 months 35-44 18 Weekly 45-54 11 16 9 55-64 17 2013 2014 65-74 9

75+ 10

Source: Ofcom Adults media use and attitudes report, 2015 Q: IN15/ IN16 –From this list please tell me the types of things you currently do online and how often you do each? (Prompted responses, single coded) - Finding information about health related issues

20 Figure 2.2: Top five websites in comScore’s ‘Health-Information’ category Six in ten of the online audience accessed a website/app in comScore’s ‘health information’ category in June 2015. The entity with the largest unique audience between January and June 2015 was ‘NHS Sites’ accessed by 13.9 million people (i.e. a 29% digital population reach). Other major sites and apps in the ‘heath information’ category include the US-based WebMD Health (ranked second with 20% reach or 9.5 million unique users). WebMD Health partners with the UK pharmacy Boots to provide health information on its website. Everyday Health was ranked third with a 9% reach or 4.4 million unique visitors.

Unique audience (millions) 15 Unique Active June 2015 visitors reach (%) 12 (million) NHS Sites [P] 13.9 29 9 WebMD Health [P] 9.5 20 6 Everyday Health [P] 4.4 9

3 BBC News Health [S] 3.9 8

LIVESTRONG - eHow Health [S] 3.6 7 0 Jan-2015 Feb-2015 Mar-2015 Apr-2015 May-2015 Jun-2015

NHS Sites [P] WebMD Health [P] Everyday Health [P] BBC News Health [S] LIVESTRONG - eHow Health [P]

Source: comScore MMX-MP January – June 2015

21 Figure 2.3: Mobile device audience and time spent on health information sites, June 2015

Half or more of those who visited the top five health information On average, visitors to NHS Sites spent 13.7 minutes websites in June 2015 did so using a mobile device (smartphone using the service in June 2015 compared to 2.7 minutes or tablet) at least once. Half (50%) of those who visited BBC for BBC News Health. News Health used a mobile device, compared to 75% of those who accessed Everyday Health.

Proportion unique audience using mobile devices June 2015 Time spent per month in June 2015 (minutes)

Everyday Health [P] 75 NHS Sites [P] 13.7 6.2

WebMD Health [P] 5.5 WebMD Health [P] 74 4.9

Everyday Health [P] 3.6 LIVESTRONG - eHow Health [P] 73 3.7

BBC News Health [S] 2.7 NHS Sites [P] 61 2.6

LIVESTRONG - eHow Health [S] 2.6 2.5 BBC News Health [S] 50 0 10 20 0 20 40 60 80 100 Average time per visitor (total digital) % Total unique visitors using mobile device Average time per visitor (mobile)

Source: comScore MMX MP, June 2015 22 Figure 2.4: Visitors to selected health information sites by age and gender, June 2015

Visitors to the BBC News Health website were more likely to be aged over 35 than visitors to the NHS or WebMD health information sites. Visitors to the BBC News Health site were more likely to be male than visitors to the other two sites.

Unique audience (%)

NHS Sites [P]2 3% 15% 24% 19% 16% 22% Under 18 18-24

WebMD Health [P] 2% 19% 24% 20% 15% 21% 25-34 35-44

BBC News Health [S] 2% 9% 22% 23% 18% 26% 45-54 55+

NHS Sites [P]2 40% 60% Male WebMD Health [P] 32% 67% Female

BBC News Health [S] 53% 47%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Source: comScore MMX-MP June 2015

23 3 Education

24 Figure 3.1: Top five websites in comScore’s ‘Education’ category

In June 2015 24.5 million people visited at least one website or app in comScore’s ‘education’ category on desktops, laptops and/or on mobile devices.

The largest individual entities by total digital reach were the sites of The Student Room Group (visited by 7% of the total online population) which provides information and discussion for students in addition to homework resources for school pupils. While now archived, BBC Learning (visited by 2.4 million or 5%) provides links to BBC educational resources. TSL Education (visited by 1.7 million) includes job and professional information for those working in the educational community.

Unique audience (millions) Unique Active 5 June 2015 visitors Reach (millions) % 4 TheStudent Room 3.5 7 Group [P] 3 BBC Learning [C] 2.4 5 2 TSL Education 1.7 4 Ltd. [M] 1 BBC Knowledge & 1.4 3 0 Learning Beta [C] Jan-2015 Feb-2015 Mar-2015 Apr-2015 May-2015 Jun-2015 Guardian TheStudentRoom Group [P] BBC Learning [C] 1.4 3 Education [C] TSL Education Ltd. [M] BBC Knowledge & Learning Beta [C] Guardian Education [C]

Source: comScore MMX-MP January – June 2015

25 Figure 3.2: Visitors to Education sites by age and gender, June 2015 Visitors to the BBC websites were more likely to be aged under 18 than for the other sites. There was a broadly equal split by gender among visitors to all these education sites. Unique audience (%)

TheStudentRoom Group [P] 9% 37% 22% 13% 11% 9% Under 18

BBC Learning [C] 21% 19% 16% 20% 15% 9% 18-24

TSL Education Ltd. [M] 8% 15% 21% 30% 18% 9% 25-34 35-44 BBC Knowledge & Learning Beta [C] 23% 18% 14% 24% 16% 5% 45-54 Guardian Education [C] 6% 34% 23% 19% 10% 9% 55+ TheStudentRoom Group [P] 44% 56%

BBC Learning [C] 46% 54%

TSL Education Ltd. [M] 40% 60% Male

BBC Knowledge & Learning Beta [C] 42% 58% Female

Guardian Education [C] 44% 56%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Source: comScore MMX-MP June 2015

26 Figure 3.3: Mobile audience and time spent on education sites, June 2015

Over half of those who visited Guardian Education and The On average, visitors spent over 15 minutes on the BBC Student Room websites in June 2015 did so using a mobile Knowledge and Learning Site, and mobile visitors spent 4.5 device (smartphone or tablet) at least once. minutes on it. The differential for visitors to The Student Room and for Guardian Education was lower (10.2 vs 7.5 minutes, and 2.5 vs 2.1 minutes respectively).

Proportion unique audience using mobile devices June 2015 Time spent per month in June 2015 (minutes)

15.7 BBC Knowledge & Learning Beta [C] Guardian Education [C] 59 4.5

14.2 TSL Education Ltd. [M] TheStudentRoom Group [P] 57 3.7

10.2 TSL Education Ltd. [M] TheStudentRoom Group [P] 25 7.5

7.0 BBC Learning [C] 19 BBC Learning [C] 4.0

2.5 BBC Knowledge & Learning Beta [C] 17 Guardian Education [C] 2.1

0 20 40 60 80 100 0 10 20 % Total unique visitors using mobile device Average time per visitor (total digital) Average time per visitor (mobile)

Source: comScore MMX MP, June 2015 27 Figure 3.4: Top five websites in comScore ‘Education’ category, among children 6-14 using laptops/desktops* Among children aged 6-14 using laptops and desktops*, education websites from the BBC had the highest reach in June 2015, with a total of 0.4 million 6-14s accessing at least one of BBC Learning, BBC Knowledge and Learning Beta and BBC Bitesize, accounting for 7% active reach. These were followed by the Student Room Group and Pearson Education. It is noteworthy how use of these sites dips considerably at holiday times. Unique audience (thousands) 400 Unique Active June 2015 visitors 350 Reach % (million) 300 BBC Learning [C] 0.3 4.8 250 BBC Knowledge & 0.2 3.3 200 Learning Beta [C]

150 BBC Bitesize [C] 0.2 2.8 100 TheStudentRoom 0.1 1.5 Group [P] 50 Pearson Education 0.1 1.5 0 [P] Jul- Sep- Nov- Jan- Mar- May- Jul- Sep- Nov- Jan- Mar- May- 2013 2013 2013 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2015 2015 2015 June 2015 Unduplicated unique visitors BBC Learning [C] BBC Knowledge & Learning Beta [C] across BBC Learning [C], BBC, BBC Knowledge & Learning Beta [C] and BBC BBC Bitesize [C] TheStudentRoom Group [P] Bitesize [C] = 394k, (7.1% active reach) Pearson Education [P] Source: comScore MMX July 2013 – June 2015 * Smartphone and tablet use is not currently captured for users aged under 18

28 Figure 3.5: TED Talks and selected ‘MOOCs’

TED Talks accounted for an active reach of 3% of the digital audience, or 1.5 million unique visitors in June 2015. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are open-registration courses that are delivered online, often by educational institutions such as universities. In June 2015 0.3m million people in the UK accessed the MOOC platform run by the Open University, called FutureLearn. This placed it ahead of US based ED-X.org and Coursera, two other major MOOC platforms backed by universities.

Unique audience (thousands)

2,000 Unique Active 1,800 June 2015 visitors 1,610 1,645 Reach % 1,486 (million) 1,600 1,404 1,4001,301 1,293 TED Talks [P] 1.5 3.1 1,200 1,000 FUTURELEARN.COM [P] 0.3 0.5 800 EDX.ORG [P] 0.1 0.3 600 400 COURSERA.ORG 0.1 0.3 200 KHANACADEMY.ORG 0.1 0.2 0 [P] Jan-2015 Feb-2015 Mar-2015 Apr-2015 May-2015 Jun-2015

TED Talks [P] FUTURELEARN.COM [P] EDX.ORG [P] COURSERA.ORG KHANACADEMY.ORG [P]

Source: comScore MMX-MP January – June 2015

29 4 Media: PSB, News, Blogging & Hyperlocal

30 Figure 4.1: Unique audience and reach of PSBs, June 2015 The BBC has the highest online reach of any of the UK’s PSBs, with the BBC’s sites being accessed by 85% of those who went online in June 2015 on a computer or mobile device. ITV’s ITV.COM was accessed by 3 in 10 of those online at least once.

Active Reach (%) / Unique audience (000) at June 2015

BBC Sites [P] 85 41

ITV.COM [P] 29 14

Channel4 [P] 16 8

Channel 5 [M] 6 3

UTV Media Plc [P] 5 2

STV.TV [P] 4 2

S4C.CYMRU [P] 0 0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Active reach % Unique audience (millions)

Source: comScore MMX MP, June 2015 31 Figure 4.2: Top five news services

The three news services with the highest multiplatform reach in June 2015 were BBC News, the Daily Mail and the Guardian, with active reaches of 58%, 51% and 46% respectively.

Unique audience (millions) Unique Active June 2015 visitors 30 Reach % (million)

25 BBC News [C] 27.7 58

20 DAILYMAIL.CO.UK [M] 24.5 51

15 THEGUARDIAN.COM 21.9 46 [M] 10 MIRROR.CO.UK [C] 19.2 40 5 TELEGRAPH.CO.UK [M] 18.9 39 0 Jan-2015 Feb-2015 Mar-2015 Apr-2015 May-2015 Jun-2015

BBC News [C] DAILYMAIL.CO.UK [M] THEGUARDIAN.COM [M] MIRROR.CO.UK [C] TELEGRAPH.CO.UK [M]

Source: comScore MMX-MP January – June 2015 Note: Top 5 sites identified by highest multiplatform unique audience at June 2015 Custom-defined category by Ofcom not based on comScore’s official news/information category 32 Figure 4.3: Active hyperlocal websites by nation

Hyperlocal websites provide news and information about relatively small defined geographic areas. Ownership and the type of content they create and distribute can vary considerably. In total there are an estimated 1500- 2000 of these in the UK serving a range of geographic areas of which 653 active sites are listed on the localweblist website. These relate to independent web-based services which relate to their area and may include websites, blogs, discussion forums, Facebook pages, but excludes websites of local newspapers.

Number of active hyperlocal sites identified by Localweblist England 541 Northern Ireland 3 Scotland 63 Wales 46

Source: Localweblist. Accessed 18 November 2015 http://localweblist.net/get-the-data/ Note: Comparison with the number of hyperlocal websites published in the 2014 Internet Citizens report is not possible due to changes in the collection of this data

33 Figure 4.4: Citizen journalism – top five websites in comScore’s ‘Social media - Blogs’ category

In June 2015 88% of the total digital population accessed a service in the comScore ‘Social Media - Blogs’ category at least once on either a computer or a mobile device. The property Wordpress.com (which offers free hosting to blogs) had the largest reach of any entity in the category – with a total cross platform audience of 14.2 million people (30% active reach). Google’s blogging service, Blogger (which includes Blogspot) was ranked second with a unique audience of 12.9 million. Unique audience (millions)

15 Unique Active June 2015 visitors Reach % (million) 12 WORDPRESS.COM* [P] 14.2 30 9 Blogger [M] 12.9 27

6 WordPress [P] 6.3 13

Gawker Media [P] 5.8 12 3

Reddit [M] 5.3 11 0 Jan-2015 Feb-2015 Mar-2015 Apr-2015 May-2015 Jun-2015

WORDPRESS.COM* [P] Blogger [M] WordPress [P] Gawker Media [P] Reddit [M]

Source: comScore MMX-MP January – June 2015 34

Figure 4.5: Unique visitors to top ‘Social media - Blogs’ sites, June 2015

According to comScore data for June 2015, those that use Reddit were more likely to be male, and those that use WordPress were more likely to be female. WordPress users were also more likely to be older than for other blog sites.

Unique audience (%) WORDPRESS.COM [P] 2% 17% 25% 20% 16% 20% Under 18

Blogger 5% 16% 24% 20% 17% 19% 18-24 25-34 WordPress [P] 0% 17% 20% 19% 16% 28% 35-44 Gawker Media 4% 22% 30% 17% 10% 17% 45-54

Reddit 5% 25% 29% 17% 12% 13% 55+

WORDPRESS.COM [P] 44% 56%

Blogger 50% 50%

WordPress [P] 39% 61% Male Female Gawker Media 58% 42%

Reddit 63% 37%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Source: comScore MMX-MP June 2015

35 Figure 4.6: Mobile audience and time spent on blogging platforms, June 2015 Over half of those who these blogging platforms in June 2015 On average, visitors spent over 21 minutes on the Reddit did so using a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) at least platform, and mobile visitors spent nearly 15 minutes on it. The once. differential for visitors to other blogging sites was lower (for example 6.0 vs 4.4 minutes for Blogger, and 5.4 vs 5 minutes for Wordpress). Proportion unique audience using mobile devices June 2015 Time spent per month in June 2015 (minutes)

21.4 WordPress [P] 95 Reddit [M] 14.9

6.0 WORDPRESS.COM* [P] 77 Blogger [M] 4.4

5.4 Reddit [M] 64 WORDPRESS.COM* [P] N/A 5.0

4.2 Gawker Media [P] 64 Gawker Media [P] N/A 3.9

4.0 Blogger [M] 56 WordPress [P] 4.0

0 20 40 60 80 100 0 5 10 15 20 25 % Total unique visitors using mobile device Average time per visitor (total digital) Average time per visitor (mobile)

Source: comScore MMX MP, June 2015 36 Figure 4.7: Blogging activity, by nation

Ofcom’s Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report 2015 found that around one quarter of internet users across the UK said they maintained a blog, and nearly half that they commented on blogs or websites – one in five (19%) said they did this weekly. % respondents who say they have ever …

60

48 50 47 46 45 40 40 UK 29 30 27 England 21 21 Northern Ireland 18 20 Scotland Wales 10

0 Set up / maintained a website or blog/ Contributed comments to a website / blog weblog

Source: Ofcom research, fieldwork carried out by Saville Rossiter-Base in October to November 2014 QN; IN16B. (SHOWCARD) HOW OFTEN GO ONLINE FOR - Contributed comments to a website or blog – EVER and N15H. (SHOWCARD) HOW OFTEN GO ONLINE FOR - Setting up or maintaining a website or blog/ weblog Base: Those who go online at home or elsewhere using any device

37 5 Arts, culture and libraries

38 Figure 5.1: Digital participation in cultural activities in England According to the DCMS Taking Part survey, around one quarter of adults in England use the internet for cultural purposes – in 2015 28% said they had accessed a museum or gallery website in the previous 12 months, the same proportion who had accessed a heritage website. Reported use of libraries and archives was lower. % adults having digitally participated in culture in the last 12 months by visiting a… 35 30 30 28 28 27 28 25 25 25

20 18 16 2005/06 14 15 15 2013/14 12 10 11 2014/15 10 9

5

0 Museum or gallery Heritage website Theatre or concert Library website Archive or records website website office website

Source: Taking Part 2014/15 Quarter 4 Statistical release, Department of Culture, Media and Sport Base: Adults 16+ 2005/06 n=28117, 2013/14 n=10355. 2014/15 n=9817 Definition of digital participation available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/438442/Taking_Part_2014_15_Quarter_4_Report.pdf

39 Figure 5.2: Selected digital activities carried out by museums and galleries in England in 2014 In terms of the types of online content that is provided by arts and cultural organisations, over nine in ten of the museums and galleries in England that responded to a Digital R&D Fund for the Arts survey said they had their own branded website, and nearly as many publish onto free platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. Fewer post video or audio content. % respondents 100 96 Our own branded website 91 90 82 80 75 Publishing content onto free platforms (e.g. YouTube, Facebook)

59 Publishing content (e.g. audio/video/blogs) 60 56 onto our website 52 Post video/audio content, either for download 41 (e.g. podcasts) or streaming, with critical 40 commentary and/or supplementary material 28 29 Sell event tickets online 23 19 20 Provide online interactive tours of real-world exhibitions / spaces 6

0 Simulcast / livestream performances Museums Galleries Source: Digital Culture Survey 2014, Digital R&D Fund for the Arts Q; Now thinking about your organisation’s online activities, please indicate which of the following your organisation currently does? Note: Museums N=91, Galleries N=51, Performing groups N=265, Venue for performing arts N=64 40 Figure 5.3: Visitors to selected heritage, museums and galleries online sites Comparing major heritage, museums and galleries shows that the National Trust has a reach that is considerably higher than other organisations. The Natural History Museum website had 0.2 million unique visitors in June 2015, and the Tate had 0.1 million. Unique audience (thousands)

1200 Unique Active June 2015 visitors Reach % 1000 (million)

800 NATIONALTRUST.ORG.UK [P] 0.9 1.9 ENGLISH-HERITAGE.ORG.UK 0.2 0.4 600 [P] NHM.AC.UK [P] 0.2 0.4 400 TATE.ORG.UK [P] 0.1 0.3 200 VAM.AC.UK [P] 0.1 0.2 0 Jan-2015 Feb-2015 Mar-2015 Apr-2015 May-2015 Jun-2015

NATIONALTRUST.ORG.UK [P] ENGLISH-HERITAGE.ORG.UK [P] NHM.AC.UK [P] TATE.ORG.UK [P] VAM.AC.UK [P]

Source: comScore MMX-MP January – June 2015 Entities reported National Trust NATIONALTRUST.ORG.UK [P], English Heritage ENGLISH-HERITAGE.ORG.UK [P], Natural History Museum NHM.AC.UK [P], Tate Galleries TATE.ORG.UK [P], V&A Museum VAM.AC.UK [P]

41 Figure 5.4: Mobile audience and time spent on heritage, museums, galleries, June 2015

Half of those who used the National Trust website in June 2015 On average, visitors spent 4.4 minutes on the National Trust did so using a mobile device (smartphone or tablet) at least site, and similar time on the English Heritage site. Mobile visitors once. were more likely to spend time on the English Heritage site than they were on the National Trust site.

Proportion of unique audience using mobile devices, June Time spent per month in June 2015 (minutes) 2015

4.4 NATIONALTRUST.ORG.UK [P] NATIONALTRUST.ORG.UK [P] 49 2.7

4.2 ENGLISH-HERITAGE.ORG.UK [P] NHM.AC.UK [P] 45 4.3

3.1 VAM.AC.UK [P] ENGLISH-HERITAGE.ORG.UK [P] 40 0.0

2.6 VAM.AC.UK [P] N/A TATE.ORG.UK [P] 0.0

2.5 TATE.ORG.UK [P] N/A NHM.AC.UK [P] 1.1

0 20 40 60 80 100 0 2 4 6 % Total unique visitors using mobile device Average time per visitor (total digital) Average time per visitor (mobile) Source: comScore MMX MP, June 2015 42 Figure 5.5: Unique visitors to selected galleries, heritage and museum sites by audience profile, June 2015 Visitors to the English Heritage and the National Trust sites in June 2015 were more likely to be older, and those visiting the Tate and Natural History museum sites were more likely to be younger. Visitors to the V&A, Tate and Natural History Museum were more likely to be female, while visitors to the heritage sites were more even in terms of gender.

Unique audience (%)

National Trust 3% 10% 12% 22% 16% 36% Under 18 English Heritage 4% 13% 12% 18% 17% 36% 18-24

Natural History Museum 6% 10% 28% 25% 17% 15% 25-34 35-44 Tate 10% 8% 32% 30% 9% 11% 45-54 V&A museum 6% 16% 12% 43% 4% 18% 55+

National Trust 49% 51%

English Heritage 51% 49%

Natural History Museum 38% 62% Male

Tate 39% 61% Female

V&A museum 32% 68%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Source: comScore MMX-MP June 2015 43 Figure 5.6: Selected libraries and archives As there is no defined comScore category for libraries or archives, the organisations shown here are those we consider to be either major institutions or provide useful comparison. The UK’s national archives were visited by 0.79 million users in June 2015. These are the archives for England and Wales as well as the UK government. Around 0.77 million visited the Internet Archive archive.org in June 2015, a US-based not-for profit organisation which includes a repository of video and audio media of old websites and software, as well as access to the text of digitised books. The British Library had 154,000 visitors during the same period, and the US Library of Congress 40,000.

1200 Unique Unique audience (thousands) Active June 2015 visitors Reach % 1000 (million) UK National 0.79 1.7 800 Archives The Internet 0.77 1.6 600 Archive (US] British Library 0.15 0.3 400 Library of Congress 0.04 0.1 200 (US) National Library of 0.02 0.1 0 Scotland Jan-2015 Feb-2015 Mar-2015 Apr-2015 May-2015 Jun-2015 NATIONALARCHIVES.GOV.UK [P] ARCHIVE.ORG [P] BL.UK [P] LOC.GOV [P] NLS.UK [P] Source: comScore MMX-MP January – June 2015. Entities reported UK National Archives NATIONALARCHIVES.GOV.UK [P], Internet Archive ARCHIVE.ORG [P], British Library BL.UK [P], Library of Congress LOC.GOV [P], National Library of Scotland NLS.UK [P] Note: 1) Scotland and Northern Ireland hold separate national archives. The National Archives of Scotland hold government and private documents relating to Scotland, while the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland holds private and official records for Northern Ireland. These are not reportable on comScore. There is no specific national library for Northern Ireland. 2) Unique visitors exceeded the reporting threshold once between January and June 2015 for the National Library of Wales LLGC.ORG.UK [P] – with 27,200 unique visitors in March 2015 44 Figure 5.7: Unique visitors to selected libraries and archives sites, June 2015

Visitors to the National Library of Scotland were more likely to be older, and male, than for other selected organisations. Visitors to the UK National Archives were more likely to be female.

Unique audience (%)

National Archives (UK) 3% 9% 17% 21% 18% 32% Under 18 Internet Archive (US) 3% 18% 23% 19% 13% 24% 18-24

British Library 13% 17% 13% 17% 19% 21% 25-34 35-44 Library of Congress 9% 44% 8% 10% 8% 21% 45-54 National Library of Scotland 14% 1% 10% 21% 4% 50% 55+

National Archives (UK) 43% 57%

Internet Archive (US) 61% 39%

British Library 49% 51% Male

Library of Congress 67% 33% Female

National Library of Scotland 75% 25%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Source: comScore MMX-MP June 2015

45