Swindon & Wiltshire News
Digital news as popular as newspapers for first time – report
Business Biscuit readers – you are not alone! Consuming news on websites or apps is now as popular as reading newspapers, according to new research published by media regulator Ofcom.
Forty-one percent of people say they now access news on websites and apps, up significantly from 32 percent in 2013.
And four in ten people say that they read newspapers to follow the news, which is unchanged year on year, according to Ofcom’s News Consumption in the UK report.
At the same time, using websites or apps has overtaken the radio (36 percent) to catch-up on the news.
The report suggests that younger people (16 to 24) are driving the surge in consuming news on the internet or apps, with 60 percent doing so in 2014, up from 44 percent last year.
Some 45 percent of 16 to 24s said that websites or apps were their most important sources for news, up by a half over the year (30 percent in 2013).
The rise in digital news is driven by increased mobile and tablet use among younger people. They are ten times more likely than those aged 55 and over to access news on a mobile (40 percent versus four percent) and twice as likely via a tablet (15 percent versus seven percent).
The top three reasons UK adults give for following the news is to know what’s going on in the world (58 percent), across the UK (56 percent) and in their local area (49 percent).
Those aged 55+ are more likely to give more reasons for following news, suggesting a stronger engagement.
