Online sites and apps have overtaken television as the main source of news for adults, marking a generational shift in the balance of news media.

Ofcom’s annual study into how we access news shows that 71% of adults now do so online, compared to 70% for TV, with the increasing use of social media serving as the driving factor behind the change.

More than half of UK adults (52%) now use platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to access news, up from 47% in 2023, while the reach of TV news has gradually declined in recent years, falling sharply from 75% to 70% last year.

Going online is by far the most popular way for younger people to access news (88% of 16–24 year olds), but older generations are also gradually adding online sources to their news diets.

Over half (54%) of people aged 55+ find news online, up from 45% in 2018, with most navigating directly to news websites. Only 28% of this age group access news via social media, significantly lower than 16-24s at 82%.

Despite this trend towards online news sources, TV remains by far the leading platform for news among older age groups (85%), compared to less than half of 16-24 year olds (49%).

According to the study, four of the ten most popular news sources in the UK are social media platforms, namely Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and X. Among 16-24 year olds, these platforms plus TikTok occupy the top five spots.

YouTube, meanwhile, is now as widely used to access news content as the Sky News Channel, and more popular than the BBC News Channel and BBC News Online.

Despite this shift, online news media is still far less trusted than TV news. Only 53% of people considered online sources accurate and trustworthy, compared to around 70% for television news channels. For social media that figure is even lower, with just 43% trusting news found on these platforms. 

Audiences still consider ‘trusted and accurate news’ as the most important societal feature of public service media in the UK, with nearly half of respondents (49%) ranking it among the top three attributes they look for.

Trust in online sources has been undermined by the rapid rise of generative AI, particularly its influence on social media. For instance, over half of people (57%) expressed concern about deepfake content during the General Election campaign, and more than a quarter (27%) of adults reported encountering a deepfake online in the past week.

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With more people moving online to consume their news, there are serious worries for the future of public service news media in the UK. To better understand the risks that this poses, both to public broadcasters and the news diets of audiences, Ofcom will focus on this shift to online news with their next review of public service media.

“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,” said Yih-Choung Teh, Ofcom group director for strategy and research. 

“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.”