A recent survey on the sources of news for people in the UK has discovered that
traditional news outlets continue to be the top choice for British adults. The study, commissioned by communications company Woburn Partners and executed by Find Out Now, surveyed 5,890 British adults in March to gain insight into their news consumption
habits.
The findings revealed that most people obtain their news from professional publishers’ websites (47%), followed by TV (35%), social media (33%), radio (24%), and printed publications (15%).
The research also highlighted a generational divide in news consumption habits. Younger individuals showed a lower likelihood of using offline news sources. Among those aged 65 and above, 36% reported using print sources for news, which fell to 7% for those aged 18-24 and 6% for those aged 25-34. TV news was more popular among older age groups, with 58% of those over 65 and 44% of those aged 55-64 using it, as opposed to 32% of those aged 18-24 and 13% of those aged 25-34.
When examining news consumption habits by social group, the survey found that 53% of professional respondents reported using non-social media websites as a news source. This percentage fell to 41% among the social group encompassing semi and unskilled workers, as well as those out of work. However, online news remained the most popular news source for this group as well.
BBC News emerged as the most popular professional publisher website for news, with 59% of those using news websites citing BBC News as one of their sources. The BBC also dominated the TV and radio news landscapes, with 59% of those using TV channels for news reporting that they watched BBC News, and BBC Radio 2 (22%) and Heart (18%) being the most popular radio stations for news. Sky News (22%) and The Guardian (18%) followed in popularity.
Regarding social media news sources, Facebook (63%), Twitter (31%), Instagram (29%), and Google (28%) were named the most popular across all age groups.
Printed publications remain the least popular news source, with only 15% of respondents considering newspapers as a news source. The Daily Mail (33%), The Sun (27%), and Mail on Sunday (17%) were the most popular newspapers among this group.
