Media & information · Reach · UK adults 16+ · Ofcom 2026 and 2025 surveys

Who reaches the news audience?

Meta reaches more UK news users than all newspapers combined: 51% of adults saw news through Meta in the past month, against 44% for newspapers in print or online. The BBC reaches the most (77%) and Google 60% (Ofcom 2026). The platform and attention charts below are from Ofcom’s 2025 survey, on a method Ofcom says is not directly comparable. Reach is not trust or persuasion — those need separate evidence.

Evidence last reviewed 3 October 2026

Meta reaches more adults with news (51%) than all newspapers combined (44%); the BBC reaches the most (77%)

Share of UK adults who saw or heard news on each provider in the past month, across its services. Respondents use several providers, so the bars do not add up.

United Kingdom · Fieldwork November 2025 to March 2026

BBC (TV, radio and online)Broadcaster
Google (Search, YouTube, News, Gemini)Platform
Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads)Platform
ITVBroadcaster

BroadcasterTechnology platformAll newspapers, print and online: 44%

The BBC still reaches the most adults with news (77%). Google (60%) and Meta (51%) each reach more people with news than all newspapers in print or online combined (44%). Most of what they carry is made by publishers and broadcasters; what changes is who chooses which stories a person sees. Reach alone does not show that platforms change minds — that needs different evidence, set out below.

United Kingdom · Fieldwork November 2025 to March 2026 · Official estimate (survey; reported use in the past month)

Sources, definitions and data

Geography:: United Kingdom — Adults aged 16+ (base 5,397)
Measure:: Per cent of adults (0–100%)
Period:: Fieldwork November 2025 to March 2026
Status:: Official estimate (survey; reported use in the past month)
Calculation:: As published: BBC and ITV from Figure 8 (reach through their own services); Google and Meta from Figure 9 (online intermediary brands); newspapers in print and/or online from Figure 1 and data Table 359. Only the two largest broadcasters and two largest intermediaries are shown.
Compare with:: All newspapers combined, print and online: 44%
Not included / breaks:: Reach counts anyone who saw or heard news from a source at all; it is not time spent, trust or influence. Platforms mostly distribute other organisations’ journalism. Ofcom changed its question and fieldwork in 2026 (past month rather than “nowadays”; more online interviews; passive use included), so these figures are not directly comparable with its earlier surveys.

Source: Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2026 — research findings, Figures 1, 8 and 9; adult data tables, Table 359 (released 15 September 2026). Chart MEDIA-01.

View the data as a table

Provider	Type	Reach (% of adults)
BBC (TV, radio and online)	Broadcaster	77
Google (Search, YouTube, News, Gemini)	Platform	60
Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads)	Platform	51
ITV	Broadcaster	50

Which platforms do people use for news? (2025 survey)

Online (70%) is now level with TV (68%); newspapers reach 34%

Share of UK adults who use each platform for news “nowadays”. Respondents use several platforms, so the bars do not add up.

United Kingdom · 2025 fieldwork

Online (any website, app, social media or podcast)Platform type
TV, including on-demandPlatform type
Social mediaPlatform type
RadioPlatform type
Newspapers, print and onlinePlatform type

BroadcasterTechnology platform

Almost everyone (96%) follows news in some form. Online reach (70%) is on a par with TV including on-demand (68%) and above linear TV channels (63%). Half of adults use social media for news. Newspapers, print and online together, reach about a third. Reach measures who uses a platform at all, not how much attention it gets — that is the next chart.

United Kingdom · 2025 fieldwork · Official estimate (survey)

Sources, definitions and data

Geography:: United Kingdom — Adults 16+ (base 4,573)
Measure:: Per cent of adults (0–100%)
Period:: 2025 fieldwork
Status:: Official estimate (survey)
Calculation:: As published (Figure 2 and text).
Compare with:: Each other; Ofcom says online and TV including on-demand are statistically on a par
Not included / breaks:: Social media is part of “online”. Only 19% read a print newspaper for news. Ofcom quotes radio at 38% in one section and 37% in another, on slightly different bases. Ofcom’s 2026 survey asks about the past month and puts newspapers in print or online at 44% (chart above); the two years are not directly comparable, so no change is shown.

Source: Ofcom, News consumption in the UK: 2025 — research findings, Figures 2 and 5; key findings (released 21 July 2025). Chart MEDIA-04.

View the data as a table

Platform	Reach (% of adults)
Online (any website, app, social media or podcast)	70
TV, including on-demand	68
Social media	51
Radio	38
Newspapers, print and online	34

Where does news attention go? (2025 survey)

Platforms and TV each take 31% of news attention; print takes 5%

Share of the 61 minutes a day UK adults spend on news, by route. Shares of one total: they add to 100% within rounding.

United Kingdom · 2025

Online, via intermediariesShare of news time
TVShare of news time
RadioShare of news time
Online, direct from publishersShare of news time
PrintShare of news time
PodcastsShare of news time

BroadcasterTechnology platform

Attention tells a different story from reach. A third of news time now comes through platforms — as much as through TV — while going straight to a publisher’s site or app accounts for 11% and print for 5%. Much of what people read through platforms is still made by broadcasters and publishers; the platform decides which of it each person sees.

United Kingdom · 2025 · Official estimate (modelled from several industry datasets)

Sources, definitions and data

Geography:: United Kingdom — Adults 16+
Measure:: Per cent of news attention
Period:: 2025
Status:: Official estimate (modelled from several industry datasets)
Calculation:: As published (Figure 3). Ofcom models attention from Barb (TV), RAJAR (radio), Ipsos iris (online direct), Comscore (YouTube) and its own survey (intermediaries, print, podcasts).
Compare with:: Public service broadcasters together: 40% of news attention
Not included / breaks:: Attention is modelled, not directly observed. “Online via intermediaries” counts time spent on news reached through social media, search and aggregators, whoever produced it.

Source: Ofcom, News consumption in the UK: 2025 — research findings, Figures 2 and 5; key findings (released 21 July 2025). Chart MEDIA-05.

View the data as a table

Route	Share of news attention (%)
Online, via intermediaries	31
TV	31
Radio	18
Online, direct from publishers	11
Print	5
Podcasts	3

Newspaper brands: a different base

Among people who use any newspaper brand for news, print or online, Daily Mail / Mail on Sunday reaches 33%, Guardian / Observer reaches 31%, The Sun / Sun on Sunday reaches 23%. These percentages are of newsbrand users, not of the UK population. Newsbrands as a whole reach 34% of adults, so a brand on 33% here reaches roughly one adult in nine — not one in three.

No current, complete public series of national newspaper circulation exists, so this site does not use circulation figures; reach from one Ofcom survey is used throughout instead.

Four ways to measure concentration — and what each misses

How many national newspaper titles does one company control?
3 groups
Three companies — DMG Media, News UK and Reach — publish the large majority of UK national newspaper titles between them. If DMGT’s purchase of the Telegraph completes, one of the three would add both Telegraph titles to the Mail, Mail on Sunday, Metro and the i.
Blind spot: Counting mastheads treats the Daily Star and The Times as equal units. It says nothing about how many people read either.
Companies House register and CMA merger case file
How many providers reach more than a third of UK adults with news?
4 providers
Four: the BBC (67%), Meta (39%), Google (34%) and ITV (34%). Two of the four are broadcasters that commission journalism. The other two are American technology companies that commission none of it.
Blind spot: Reach counts anyone who used a source at all. It does not distinguish a Radio 4 listener from someone who glanced at a headline in a feed.
Ofcom News Consumption Survey 2025, Figure 5
Where does news attention actually go?
40% PSB
Online intermediaries and TV take 31% of news attention each. Print takes 5%. The public service broadcasters together account for 40% of all news attention in the UK.
Blind spot: Attention is modelled, not directly observed, and combines several industry datasets with survey ratios.
Ofcom News Consumption Survey 2025, share of attention analysis (Barb, RAJAR, Ipsos Iris, Comscore)
How much news reaches people through services outside the media plurality rules?
60% of adults
Six in ten UK adults use a social media service, search engine or news aggregator for news. None of these companies is covered by the UK media ownership rules, which apply to television, radio and newspapers.
Blind spot: Intermediaries distribute other people’s journalism. High intermediary reach is not the same as an intermediary having editorial power — though algorithmic ranking is a form of selection.
Ofcom News Consumption Survey 2025

Trust runs the other way from reach: the platforms growing fastest are rated lowest for trust by their own users. That evidence is in endorsements, rulings and trust; options on plurality are in Transparency and plurality options.

Sources and methods (3)

Ofcom, News consumption in the UK 2026 — research findings, Figures 1, 8 and 9; adult data tables, Table 359 (released 15 September 2026) — provider reach and newspapers in print or online (MEDIA-01)
Ofcom, News consumption in the UK: 2025 — research findings, Figures 2 and 5; key findings (released 21 July 2025) — platform, attention and newsbrand reach, 2025 survey (MEDIA-04, MEDIA-05); not directly comparable with 2026
Ofcom, Media plurality — scope of the media ownership rules

Method notes

All figures are from the Ofcom News Consumption Survey 2025 (UK adults 16+, base 4,573) unless stated, so they share one method, population and fieldwork period. Online figures are claimed use; Ofcom notes people often cannot recall where news seen online came from.