Online media outstrips TV as source of news for the first time in the UK

Ofcom research shows TV remains more trusted news source in social media age

TV has lost its crown as the most popular source of news in the UK, according to research from Ofcom.

The telecoms and media regulator has found that online news sources are now more widely used than TV news, whose viewership saw a steep decline last year.

However, for now the popularity of TV news remains only slightly behind its online usurper. Ofcom's research involved more than a thousand interviews and found 71 percent of adults access news online, compared to 70 percent for TV, marking a generational shift in the balance of news media.

For 16- to 24-year-olds the difference was more marked, as 88 percent would find their news online, and just half said they'd seek out TV news to find out about current events. Despite this trend towards online news sources, TV remains by far the leading platform for news among people over 55 years old, at 85 percent.

The UK's publicly funded broadcaster, the BBC, remains the most popular news source. Its BBC One channel is the most popular single source of news, with 43 percent of individuals using it, while the BBC iPlayer streaming service is the fourth most popular source, with 23 percent.

However, social media platforms were proving influential. Facebook came third, and it is used by 30 percent of audiences.

Despite other social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) becoming significant channels for news, TV also remains more trusted than its online rivals.

Ofcom found that most of the respondents said they had encountered misleading content during the recent UK General Election. According to the survey, 60 percent of those asked recalled having seen information they felt was false or misleading, while one in ten of this group said they saw this kind of content several times a day.

Fifty-seven percent of people were worried about the impact of deepfake content during the General Election campaign, and 27 percent of adults said they had seen a deepfake the previous week.

Yih-Choung Teh, Ofcom group director, strategy and research, said: "Television has dominated people's news habits since the sixties, and it still commands really high trust. But we're witnessing a generational shift to online news, which is often seen as less reliable - together with growing fears about misinformation and deepfake content. Ofcom wants to secure high-quality news for the next generation, so we're kicking off a review of the public service media that help underpin the UK's democracy and public debate." ®