NDM case study: How has news changed?

Statistics: 

• Two-thirds of adults say they use TV for news, compared to three-quarters in 2014 Nine in ten adults in the UK (89%) say that they follow news (on any platform) 67% of UK adults saying they use TV as a source of news. However, there has been an eight percentage point decrease since 2014 (75%), following a three percentage point decrease between 2013 (78%) and 2014.
• The number of people who use the internet or apps for news has remained the same since 2014, with just over four in ten (41%) doing so, compared to just under a third in 2013 (32%).
•  Newspapers are used by three in ten (31%), which represents a decrease of nine percentage points since 2014 and 2013 (when 40% of UK adults said they used newspapers for news).
• One in ten (10%) of adults say they don’t follow news, compared to 5% in 2014 and 7% in 2013 (figure 1.2).
• Those aged 55+ are more likely than those aged 16-24 to use TV, newspapers and radio for news consumption, while the opposite is true for the internet/ apps
•  Men are more likely than women to use any of the four main platforms for news (TV, internet, newspapers and radio).
• People in the AB socio-economic group are more likely than those in the DE socio-economic group to consume news on any of the four main platforms: TV (71% vs 67%), the internet (50% vs. 29%), newspapers (38% vs. 26%) and radio (46% vs. 23%).
• the majority of those who consume news use no more than three providers (77%), unchanged since 2014; 32% of them use only one provider
• BBC One is by far the most-used (at 48%), followed by ITV/ ITV Wales/ UTV/ STV News, with just over a quarter (27%) of people saying they use it as a source of news. BBC One has had a five percentage point decrease in reach since 2014 (53%). The BBC website or app remains the third most-used news source: just under a quarter (23%) of people say they use it.
•  The most-used radio stations are BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 2 (both 8%), while the most-used newspapers are The Sun and the Daily Mail (both 6%) 
• The majority of TV news viewing in 2014 was on BBC One or BBC Two (65.8%), with a further 12.9% on ITV, 11.2% on BBC News and 4.9% on Sky News. Taken together, news on the BBC main channels and BBC News accounted for 77% of all viewing of the genre. 
• People aged 16-24 each watched just 25 hours of news on television in 2014, compared to 189 hours for those aged 55 and over. Total hours of viewing of news among 16-24 year olds has decreased each year (by eight hours since 2010). In the same period, viewing hours have fluctuated for over-55s, with an overall decrease of five hours between 2010 and 2014 
• Around a third (32%) of UK adults say they consume news through radio. Of these, seven in ten (71%) say they use any BBC radio station for this purpose; similar to the figure in 2014 (75%). Just over four in ten (41%) UK adults say they use commercial radio to consume news, compared to 39% in 2014
• When print and online readership is combined, the Daily Mail is the most widely-read news title in the UK, with around 5.5 million users (compared to just over six million in 2014). The Sun follows with 5.2 million users, compared to 5.8 million in 2014. Looking at readership levels of print-only newspapers, The Sun was the most popular (with just under 5.2 million users vs. 3.5 million for the Daily Mail)
•  Online news consumption varies considerably by age, socio-economic group and gender. Four in ten (41%) UK adults say they use the internet for news. Six in ten (59%) UK adults aged 16-24 say they use the internet or apps for news, compared to just under a quarter (23%) of those aged 55+. Over half (53%) of those in the ABC1 socio-economic group use online sources for news, compared to a third (32%) of those in the C2DE socio-economic group. Men are more likely than women to say they use internet for news (45% vs. 37%).
• Of those who use the internet or apps for news, around half (51%) say they use the website or apps of TV and radio companies to get news. More than two in five (43%) respondents say they use social media sites
• When asked which types of news they got from social media, over half of those who did this chose breaking news (55%)

2) Television is by far the most-used platform for news, with 67% of UK adults saying they use TV as a source of news. However this is continuing to decrease since 2014 when 75% of adults used their TV's to watch news. This is most likely due to the use of apps and the internet to access the news. 

3) How one accesses news in the UK differs in terms of their age. Those aged 55+ are more likely than those aged 16-24 to use TV, newspapers and radio for news consumption, while the 16-24 year old's prefer internet/apps

4) Socio-economic status does change attitudes to the news, People in the AB socio-economic group are more likely than those in the DE socio-economic group to consume news on any of the four main platforms: TV (71% vs 67%), the internet (50% vs. 29%), newspapers (38% vs. 26%) and radio (46% vs. 23%). 

5) Nine in ten adults in the UK (89%) say that they follow news on any platform. This differs between the groups such as age where around half (51%) of people aged 16-24 use TV for news, compared to 86% of those aged 55+. Conversely, consumption of news online through any device is considerably higher for those aged 16-24 (59%) than for over-55s (23%). In terms of socio-economic groups people in the AB socio-economic group are more likely than those in the DE socio-economic group to consume news on any of the four main platforms

6) News consumption through television has decreased in the recent years. Figures show that each adult watched 108 hours of national and international news on television in 2014. This is a decrease of seven hours since 2013 (when the average number of hours was 115) and 13 hours since 2011 (when the average was 121 hours)7 . People aged 16-24 each watched just 25 hours of news on television in 2014, compared to 189 hours for those aged 55 and over. This is most likely due to the easier and quicker ways of accessing news i,e, mobile sites/apps 

7) News consumption through newspapers has declined by more than 27 percentage points since 2005

8) Reach of national newspapers varies by age group: 29.3% of 15-24s are print newspaper readers, compared to 67.9% of over-65

9) The most popular newspapers and websites in the UK are are The Sun and the Daily Mail, followed by the Daily Mirror (13%), the Metro (12%) and The Times (9%). In terms of websites the Daily Mail had 1.8 million users, while The Sun had 0.06 million. The political viewpoints of all these newspapers are mostly left wing/ 

10)  In terms of age, consumption of news online through any device is considerably higher for those aged 16-24 (59%) than for over-55s (23%). In terms of gender, men are most likely to consume news online, (45% vs. 37%), and in terms of socio-economic status people in the AB socio-economic group are more likely than those in the DE socio-economic group to consume news online (50% vs. 29%)

11) More than two in five (43%) respondents say they use social media sites to access news. Those in the DE socio-economic group are more likely than those in the AB group to use social media sites for news (52% vs. 40%), and by age those aged 16-24 are most likely to use social media to access news (61%)

12)10% of online news users use only social media sites for news

13) The most popular online sites for news are the Daily Mail and The Sun. 

14) According to statistics about six in ten (61%) 16-24s who use the internet/ apps for news say they use social media sites and of that 16% of those aged 16-24 use only social media sites for news, 

15) According to the research most audiences use an app to go direct to the home page of a news provider. 

New/digital media: audience and institution

16) Audiences benefit from the changes that new and digital media has on the news industry. The audience can now access news more easily as it is everywhere, from mobiles to tablets and also 24 hours on TV. Also, apps such as Facebook allow tailor-made news to be readily available for audiences, so each user can access the sort of news they prefer to read.

17) Large-scale news institutions do have some benefits from the changes of new and digital media. The introduction of the internet can allow news institutions to widen the platforms they are on, making their news more accessible thus giving them the capability to reach a large-scale audiences. Majority of the apps we use today have some form of news available such as Facebook or Snapchat due to this convergence that is taking place on mobile devices and apps, this gives the news industry a better opportunity to get their news to everyone. 

18) Some of the downsides for audiences as a result of new and digital media in the news is the lack of censorship and gatekeepers for news online, as the news may be false or biased which is a reason to stick to traditional media institutions. Also, audiences may have to pay for news such as The Sun which has a paywall for their online site, which is another reason to stick to newspapers or TV as its cheaper. 

19) Some of the downsides for institutions as a result of new and digital media in news is the loss of revenue from advertising for example. The loss of revenue has meant many newspapers have had to close down or either sell their newspapers for free. Also, traditional forms of accessing news such as through TV and Radio had to adapt to make sure they are compatible with phones and the internet, which the majority of audiences are now on. This is not always cost-effective 

20) I personally believe that audiences have benefited from the changes in new and digital media and the news industry. News is more easily accessible now and there are many sources available online in which the audience can choose which one fits their political perspective and also view points. The fact that news can also be now tailor-suited is a positive for the audience. However, this does have an impact on news institutions as it does mean losses in terms of revenue.