UK teenagers are turning away from traditional news channels in favour of Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
According to Ofcom’s News Consumption in the UK 2021/22 report, Instagram is the most popular news source among teenagers – used by nearly three in ten in 2022 (29%). TikTok and YouTube follow closely behind, used by 28% of youngsters to follow news.
BBC One and BBC Two – historically the most popular news sources among teens – are now down in fifth place. Around a quarter of teens (24%) use these channels for news in 2022, compared to nearly half (45%) just five years ago.
Although BBC One remains the most used news source among all online adults, news viewing across to BBC One, BBC Two, BBC News channel, ITV and Sky News is now below pre-pandemic levels, resuming a longer-term decline in traditional TV news viewing.
While younger age groups are much more likely to use the internet and social media for news, their older counterparts prefer print, radio and TV.
Last month, BBC One revamped the look of its main news bulletins to incorporate elements of social media.
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.”
TV news remains the most trusted news source among UK adults (71%), with news on social media considered the least reliable (35%). CNN (83%) and Sky News (75%) are highly trusted by their viewers for news, while the public service broadcasters are also trusted by the majority of their viewers – BBC (73%), ITV (70%), Channel 4 (66%) and Channel 5 (59%). Sixty-seven percent of newcomer GB News’s viewers trust its news reporting.
Among teens, half of YouTube and Twitter users think they provide trustworthy news stories (51% and 52% respectively). However, despite its popularity for news, fewer than a third of youngsters (30%) trust TikTok’s news content.
