A report out today suggests that while Tv remains the most-used platform for news nowadays by UK adults, usage has decreased since last year falling to 75% against 79% in 2018.

OFCOM’s News Consumption in the UK report for 2919 found at the same time, use of social media for news use has gone up (49% vs. 44%).

Use of TV for news is much more likely among the 65+ age group   while the internet is the most-used platform for news consumption among 16-24s and those from a minority ethnic background.

There is evidence that UK adults are consuming news more actively via social media.

For example, those who access news shared by news organisations, trending news or news stories from friends and family or other people they follow via Facebook or Twitter are more likely to make comments on the new posts they see compared to the previous year.

Six in ten 12-15 year olds are interested in news. These children primarily engage with news to understand what’s going on around them and to learn about new things. Being ‘too boring’ is the key reason for lack of interest in news.

TV says the report is still the most-used platform for news consumption among 12-15 year olds and BBC One/BBC Two are still the most-used news sources, despite a drop in usage (40% vs. 45% in 2018).

As was the case last year, Family, Radio and TV are considered to be the most truthful news sources, while social media and friends are the least truthful.

12-15 year olds are particularly interested in music and celebrity news, but when asked which types of news content they are most interested in sports/sports personalities (18%) and music news/singers/musicians (17%) come out top.

TV remains the platform used most often for news (29%), followed by social media (21%) and talking to family (15%).

Social media is used most often for celebrity, music and fashion news, while TV was used most often for all other types of news content.

BBC One/Two remain the most-used and most important news source across all platforms, despite a drop in usage (decreasing from 45% in 2018 to 40% in 2019), followed by Facebook (32%), YouTube (30%) and then ITV (29%).

12-15 year olds are most likely to first find out about TV and radio sources from parent(s), and find out about social media sources from friends.

The Ofcom report also highlights that annual sales of national print newspapers have halved from 22m in 2010 to 10.4m in 2018.

Among the two fifths (38%) of adults who claim to consume news through newspapers, the most-used title is the Daily Mail followed by The Sun and Metro

The Daily Mail is the most widely-read news title in the UK overall. The Guardian is the most widely-read digital title and the Metro the most read print newspaper

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