Teenagers in the UK are turning away from traditional news channels in favour of social media platforms in order to stay up to date, new research from Ofcom has found.
The regulator’s News Consumption in the UK 2021/22 report found that, for the first time, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube were the most popular news sources among 12 to 15-year-olds.
According to the figures, Instagram was the most popular with young people and was used by 29% of teenagers, ahead of TikTok and YouTube, both of which were used by 28%.
BBC One and BBC Two – historically the most popular news source among this age group – has been knocked down to fifth place, Ofcom said.
The number of teenagers using these channels for news has dropped from nearly half (45%) five years ago to around a quarter (24%) now.
But trust in social media news sources varies – half of YouTube and Twitter users think they provide trustworthy news stories, but despite its popularity, fewer than a third of teenagers (30%) trust TikTok’s news content.
Instagram was used by 29% of teenagers to keep up to date (PA)
Yih-Choung Teh, Ofcom’s group director for strategy and research, said: “Teenagers today are increasingly unlikely to pick up a newspaper or tune into TV News, instead preferring to keep up-to-date by scrolling through their social feeds.
“And while youngsters find news on social media to be less reliable, they rate these services more highly for serving up a range of opinions on the day’s topical stories.”
Ofcom said its figures also show BBC One remains the most used news source among all online adults, but several major news channels are reaching fewer people in 2022.
News viewing to BBC One, BBC Two, the BBC News channel, ITV and Sky News is now below pre-pandemic levels, which Ofcom said is part of a longer-term decline in traditional TV news viewing.
However, TV news remains the most trusted news source among UK adults, with social media considered the least reliable.
The report also found the combined user of print and online newspapers among adults has dropped to 38% this year, compared to 47% in 2020 and 51% in 2018.
A BBC spokesperson said: “According to this Ofcom research the BBC is the most used news source for 12-15 year olds – via TV, radio, and online – and young people are also consuming BBC news on social media platforms such as our hugely popular Instagram account.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel