Amy Watson
Research expert covering news and publishing
News in the UK - statistics & facts
As is the case in countries around the world, accessing news online is now the norm for many UK consumers. That is not to say, however, that legacy media has lost its relevance in this regard. Television ranked as the most important news platform to UK audiences, ahead of all other offline platforms and social media.
The continued interest in TV news
TV is still the most used news platform in all nations across the UK. Roughly 65 to 70 percent of audiences aged 16 or over cited television as their main news source, and Wales was the only UK nation to express a marginal preference for the internet. The leading TV news channel in the UK remains BBC One, with ITV channels lagging far behind in second place.BBC News: the UK’s go-to news source
BBC News has also managed to retain its status as the top offline news brand in the UK, with around half of UK adults surveyed saying they tuned in for news and information. Meanwhile, BBC News online ranks as the UK’s leading online news brand, with over 40 percent of the UK news audience heading to the BBC’s website to keep themselves up to date. The success of the BBC’s digital platform does not come as a surprise given that the company has long been the go-to TV news source for many consumers across the country. Indeed, data on the most popular news apps in the UK revealed that the BBC News app amassed over 10 million users, second only to Apple News and eclipsing Sky News, The Guardian, and other major brands in this regard.Younger consumers and TikTok
Even among younger consumers, the BBC enjoys good engagement, but this is set to change. A ranking of the most popular news source among UK teens found that the combination of BBC One, BBC Two, and BBC iPlayer was ahead of TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram in terms of overall usage, although social sites still came out on top when considered individually. TikTok news consumption continues to grow among young consumers and the platform is likely to see further engagement as tweens and teens increase their news consumption. A number of UK news brands feature in the top global English-language news sites on TikTok, and if sites not yet on the platform wish to snag views and follows from the next generation of news consumers, the time to make the move is now.
