Over the past year, we've seen another significant jump in the use of both smartphones and tablets for news – as consumers embrace the benefits of smaller, personal, always-on devices. Which, if any, of the following devices have you used to access news in the past week.
SMARTPHONE ENCOURAGES FEWER NEWS SOURCES
Even after adjusting for other variables such as income, education and interest in news, we find that Apple tablet users were more than one and a half times more likely to pay for digital news in the United States – and twice as likely in the UK more likely. Also in the UK, third-party tablets are also significantly increasing news pay, but at a lower level.
PAYING FOR ONLINE NEWS
REASONS FOR SUBSCRIPTION – AND REASONS FOR STAYING
SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE NEWS
In Italy, Google News is accessed by 25% of weekly online news users and in Germany by 11% compared to only 2% in Finland and 5% in the UK. Regarding social media, we asked additional questions in the UK about how networks such as Facebook and Twitter are used for news discovery.
GATEWAYS AND NEWS DISCOVERY
These international differences are at the heart of the current battles over the role of aggregators such as Google in the European market. Our analysis shows that 64% of people on Twitter in the UK (around 5.4m) get their news from one or more types of 'news accounts', with 48% following a journalist, two in five (40%) follow a breaking news account and just over one in three (35%) follow a general news brand.
SHARING AND PARTICIPATION
THE RISE OF VISUAL JOURNALISM
IMPARTIAL NEWS AND THE VALUE OF REPORTERS VS BRANDS
RISE OF NEW PLAYERS AND SOCIAL AGGREGATORS AND THE GROWTH OF WEIRD NEWS
Which, if any, of the following have you used to access news in the past week. Which of the following, if any, have you used as a news source in the past week?
CONCLUSION
The smartphone pushes the Internet into a more personal space and expands our access points for news and information. We see everywhere how young people find, consume and share news and information in many different ways - to put mobile and online first.
ANALYSIS
BY COUNTRY
Analysis by Country 19
Pure players such as Yahoo News, MSN and the Huffington Post have a large reach online, as do cable news channels and local television stations and local newspapers. The US media environment in this report differs from most other countries because of the size of the market and the extraordinary success of a limited number of pure players who have established themselves as important parts of the news system.
UNITED STATES
State and local issues are covered by local television stations, struggling metropolitan newspapers, and a growing number of online-only news outlets. The US has high levels of internet, smartphone and tablet use, but has been overtaken in digital media use by some Western European and Asian countries.
STATISTICS
APPLE DEVICES VS THE REST (NEWS USAGE)
DIGITAL PARTICIPATION
DIGITAL REACH
CROSS PLATFORM REACH
TRADITIONAL (OFFLINE) REACH
TOP DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
NEWS 11%
TOP SOCIAL NETWORKS*
BBC News reaches more than three quarters of all consumers via radio, TV and online every week. The Sun and the Telegraph introduced paywalls in 2013, with The Times reporting more than 150,000 paying digital subscribers.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph's metered model didn't significantly affect reach, but the Sun's overall traffic is down significantly from last year. BBC News ITV News Local paper Sky News Daily Mail + Mail on Sunday Daily Mirror + Sunday Mirror The Sun + Sunday free city paper (eg Metro).
NEWS 7%
In response to the decline in newspaper and magazine sales, many publishers in Germany are experimenting with new models of paid online content. Over the past year, the number of people who have paid for online news has remained unchanged, and those who haven't are only slightly more likely to do so in the future.
GERMANY
Germany is home to some of the world's largest media conglomerates, including Bertelsmann and publisher Axel Springer. Bild.de N24.de n-tv online Local/regional newspaper sites Google News Focus Online Zdf.de Ard.de bzw.
NEWS 8%
Google is a major player in France, with a large online reach for Google News (see diagram opposite). Among French pure players, Mediapart is the most successful with 84,000 subscribers for its mix of online research and opinion.
FRANCE
20 minutes Le Monde Le Figaro Yahoo L'Express TF1 BFM TV Le Point Rue89 Le Nouvel Observateur Les chaînes du groupe France Télévisions Médiapart. TF1 BFM TV Les chaînes du groupe France Télévisions M6 Radios privées Itélé 20 Minutes Radios publiques.
NEWS 12%
DIGITAL REACH CROSS PLATFORM
OFFLINE) REACH
DENMARK
Ekstra-bladet.dk Nyhederne.tv2.dk Bt.dk Politiken.dk Jyllands-posten.dk B.dk Regional or local online newspaper Borsen.dk (Børsen) Free local community newspaper site Information.dk Avisen.dk Mx.dk (MetroXpress) .
TYPES OF DIGITAL
NEWS 10%
CROSS PLATFORM
The two afternoon tabloids Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti dominate the use of online news with a mostly free offer. In Finland, they are developing new digital platforms for reading newspapers with a thin, flexible prototype.
FINLAND
The reasons for newspapers' high digital reach (82%) relate to the large amount of free content combined with soft paywalls, bundled subscriptions and the strong Finnish reading tradition. Online delivery is especially important in Finland due to the sparse population and the long distances involved in physical distribution.
NEWS 14%
Decisions to charge for online news content in Spain are adversely affected by memories of the audience decline caused by the hard paywall El País put up in November 2002 – which was withdrawn three years later. But inspired by the example of foreign newspapers, El Mundo jointly launched a soft paywall in November 2013.
SPAIN
Some regional sites such as Lavanguardia.com now offer premium content through their websites, while online-only sites such as Eldiario.es and Infolibre (published from Madrid) and Vilaweb (a Catalan online pioneer) have voluntary paid membership programs, with previews and benefits for subscribers. ElMundo.es Marca.com Antena3.com Noticias 20Minutos.es LaSexta.com Noticias Rtve.es Noticias CadenaSER.com Regional newspaper sites Cuatro.com Noticias ElPeriódico.com ElConfidencial.com Eldiario.es.
ITALY
In early 2014, Corriere.it introduced native advertising on its homepage in search of new revenue streams. TgCom.it Google News Rai.TV Corriere.it A local newspaper La Stampa.it Yahoo.it Il Fatto Quotidiano.it Notizie.Libero.it MSN.it BeppeGrillo.it L'Espresso.it.
NEWS 13%
TV is by far the most popular medium in Brazil, despite declining viewership numbers with the growth of cable TV and the Internet. Brazilians are among the biggest users of blogs and social networks in the world, and the use of the web is growing rapidly, attracting foreign media such as BuzzFeed, the Spanish newspaper El País and the Huffington Post, which launched its Portuguese versions between 2012 and 2013.
URBAN BRAZIL
Globo News online MSN Terra Record News online Jornal do SBT online BandNews online Folha de S.
NEWS 22%
Yahoo News benefits from being part of a portfolio of popular services like search, email and auctions – as well as sports, weather and music.
JAPAN
Yahoo News Google News Nikkei Online MSN Asahi Online Yomiuri Online NHK Online Sankei Shimbun and MSN (joint operation) Mainichi Simbun Online Local newspapers Asahi TV & affiliate websites TBS and affiliate websites Nippon TV (News24). NHK Nippon TV Asahi TV & Affiliates TBS & Affiliates Fuji TV & Affiliates Local Newspaper Asahi Shimbun Tokyo TV & Affiliates Yomiuri Shimbun Nikkei (Nihon Keizai Shimbun) Commercial Radio Mainichi Shimbun Sankei Shimbun.
COMPARATIVE BRAND DATA ANALYSIS
NEWSPAPERS AROUND THE WORLD
These charts were achieved by flagging offline and online sources in our country lists and measuring the overlap in reported weekly newspaper stamp usage. In France and the US, not only is the size of the online bubble much smaller – illustrating greater disruption – but many traditional readers have not switched to digital versions of the newspaper and may never do so.
MANY MORE SOURCES OF NEWS BUT CONSUMERS STICK TO A FEW TRUSTED BRANDS
2.1 FREQUENCY OF ACCESS AND INTEREST IN NEWS
NEWS ACCESS
AND CONSUMPTION
Interest in news
Main platform for news
News junkies: These are people who access the news several times a day and say that they are extremely interested in the news. Daily Briefers: These are people who also access the news several times a day, but say they are a little less interested in the news (a lot or a little).
Platform preference: young prefer online
Casual users: These are people who consume less frequently – anywhere between once a day to once a month – and they also tend to be less interested in the news, with a majority only somewhat interested in news.
2.2 NEWS SEGMENTATION
The US has the highest percentage of casual users (32%), but also a high percentage of News Lovers (26%). Italy has the highest percentage of News Lovers (29%) while Japan and Finland (67% and 69%) have the highest percentage of Daily Digests.
2.3 WHEN AND WHERE DO WE ACCESS THE NEWS?
As the figure shows, younger people generally have access to news throughout the day, while for older groups, access to news coincides with scheduled TV and radio broadcasts in the morning, lunchtime and early evening. The peak used to be around lunchtime, but decreases rapidly in the early evening.
Impact of device
But in the following figure, derived from log files from the Guardian online sites, we can see how smartphones and tablets are extending the working day, creating new internet peaks in the early morning, in the commute and late at night – with the PC filling gaps in between. In the UK, we can see that smartphone users are younger than print readers, although the wide availability and convenience of free newspapers means that the age difference is not as dramatic as one might expect.
The impact of mobile phones and tablets on the daily commute
These insights have led many news organizations (including the Financial Times) to rethink shift timing – focusing more of their reporting effort on the early mornings (6am-8am). For personal transport (cars, bicycles, etc.) the flexibility of radio is still the most important, but in Denmark there is a significant growth in the use of mobile and tablet computers for news.
New landscape of news access
Italians and Spaniards are interested in arts and culture news, while our sample from urban Brazil is very interested in health care and education, as well as science and technology. Men are more interested in business news; women have access to more education, health care and local news.
2.4 INTEREST IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF NEWS
As last year, we asked all our respondents to choose their five most important types of news. Regional news is the most important in Germany, as it reflects the traditional structure of media and politics.
Weird news
These new sites have pioneered new formats of fun news including lists, animated gifs (fun moving pictures), and games. By contrast, popular newspapers and their websites (in the UK) have mainly continued to satisfy interest for more straightforward entertainment and celebrity news, although they too have been experimenting with new formats.
Political interest
2.5 POLITICAL NEWS AND POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT
In all five countries, a fairly large group in the middle say they are 'somewhat interested in politics', while in the UK and Italy almost a quarter of the population have little or no interest in politics. In general, older people in Germany, Denmark and the USA express more interest in politics than younger people.
Sources of political news
Overall, interest in politics appears to be significantly higher in Germany and the US, where 60% and 55% respectively say they are either extremely interested or very interested in politics, compared to significantly lower levels of interest in Denmark (41%). Italy (41%), and especially the UK (33%). When we break down media use by interest in politics, it is clear that news from broadcasters and newspapers is especially important when it comes to people with limited interest in politics.
Online political engagement
As you would expect, people who report a high interest in politics are much more likely to use the Internet to participate. In most forms of online political engagement in our survey, Italy and especially the United States have the most people who use the Internet to become more involved in politics or to express their opinion.
PAYING FOR NEWS
3.1 NEWSPAPER PURCHASE ACROSS COUNTRIES
Over the past year there has been intense activity in the news industry in devising more ways to pay for news. However, our findings are consistent with a recent Pew Research report in the United States, which suggests that industry activity does not necessarily mean that more individuals are paying for news, but rather that 'more revenue is squeezed out of a smaller one, or at least flat. , the number of paying customers'.7.
3.2 PAYING FOR DIGITAL NEWS
In the UK, the popular Sun newspaper has followed a similar model, attracting over 100,000 new digital subscribers. But after a sharp upswing in 2012-13 – when a large number of paywalls were introduced – our data shows very little change in the absolute number of people paying for digital news over the past year.
Of those subscribing for online news (all countries)
Base: everyone who paid to access online news in the last year - UK=139, everyone who subscribed=93. Have you paid for ONLINE news content in the past year, or have you used a paid ONLINE news service (this could be an ongoing subscription or a one-time payment for an article or app).
Of those subscribing in the UK
Of those who do not currently pay for digital news, a significant percentage expect to do so at some point in the future. How likely or unlikely are you TO pay for online news from certain sources you like IN THE FUTURE?
ONLINE NEWS IN DETAIL
4.1 THE GROWTH OF MULTI-PLATFORM NEWS
The rise and rise of tablets and smartphones
Of all those who use digital devices to access news, nearly four in ten (39%) now use more than two digital devices to access news, up from 33% in 2013. In the past year, Germany, France and Japan caught up. with other major countries – from a quarter to a third using more than two devices per week.
Young prefer smartphone, tablets more evenly split
News apps and the mobile web
Apple vs the rest
The role of branded icons on smartphone and tablet
Smartphone users consume fewer news sources
Multi-platform usage extends options
Smart and connected TVs
Spotlight on video usage
4.2 TYPES OF NEWS AND THE ROLE OF VIDEO
Some countries seem to have taken to video content more quickly, notably the US and Brazil. In all cases, the vast majority preferred to read news or primarily read news – with video as a supplementary format.
Barriers to usage of video
Content topics used in video tend to be different than declared interest in news in general. In contrast, the amount of fun/weird news or sports news consumed in video format is far greater than the declared general interest levels.
Types of video news
In the UK, most videos consumed online are from professional news organizations rather than user-generated content. In the process, Google, Facebook and Twitter have become – to a greater or lesser extent – intermediaries for a large part of news journeys online.
4.3 PATHWAYS TO NEWS: HOW AUDIENCES DISCOVER NEWS ONLINE
Comparing the use of social media and email between the UK and the United States, we can see that these gateways are almost twice as important in the US. Internationally we can see significant changes in the extent to which different networks are used for news.
4.4 SOCIAL NETWORKS AND PARTICIPATION WITH NEWS
Twitter particularly favors younger groups and is relatively more important in the UK than in the US, where Facebook, Google+ and YouTube combined are three times more popular. Around 90% of Facebook users in Brazil and Italy use the network each week for news, compared to less than half of those in the UK.
Emergence of WhatsApp
Types of activity and participation
4.5 PARTICIPATION AND ENGAGEMENT ONLINE
Essays
ESSAYS
OBJECTIVITY
AND IMPARTIALITY FOR DIGITAL NEWS
A biased source is just that, and cannot be relied upon to
This suggests that diversity of opinion, a key element in the old approach to impartial news, is still valued. Pew research in the US shows that the level of knowledge of news and current events among college graduates is almost twice that of other groups (Ofcom, New News, Future News (2007); Pew, What Americans Know 2007).
I want the full range of facts to work with, not just the
First, the consumer appears to be more enthusiastic about traditional approaches to trusted journalism than many commentators. Research by Ofcom in the UK has shown almost double the interest in news from those categorized in the higher AB demographic than C2s or DE.
In the USA, more than half of the respondents stated that they trusted an individual journalist. Research in the US again shows that Fox News viewers are the least well-informed of cable TV viewers.12 This suggests that there may be real risks to the public.
I object strongly to newspaper proprietors trying to manipulate
In the US, Fox News has regularly come out on top of the most trusted cable news networks – while this year at the same time, in the same survey, they are the least trusted (with about a third of respondents choosing one or the other polarized position) . 11 Fox News, of course, has a clear right-wing agenda, which viewers apparently either love and trust – or hate and distrust. We have been through a period in Britain where the performance and standards of the media have come under intense criticism - with the Leveson Inquiry in Britain's tabloid press and successive editorial crises at the BBC, Britain's dominant public broadcaster.
The same goes for brands, with most countries preferring news sources that try to be neutral over those with clear bias. So even if they're not keen on the traditional editorial drivers of trust – objectivity and impartiality – their choice of brand is critical to what they trust.
Finally, the robust support for objective news may reflect a public that does not yet recognize the arguments about the changing media ecology and offers responses that merely reflect what they have traditionally believed news organizations should represent. In addition, there may be an attitude-behavior gap between what people say they want from a news service and what they choose to consume.
I would trust a source that tries to be neutral or impartial because
Do consumers simply prefer, and therefore trust, news brands that match their personal views. But if viewers trust those brands that simply match their views and biases, are they necessarily well informed.
I believe you get a better more balanced view’
This research suggests that there is still an appetite for diversity of views and for evidence on which to base an opinion – in other words, transparency alone is not enough. Although the news landscape is changing rapidly with exponential growth in the available sources, styles and types of news, audiences seem more attached to the traditional norms of balanced and unbiased news than some might think.
If you know what angle they’re taking, you can interpret/
If you are less educated or less well-off, you may prefer to have a reporter interpret the news for you. Some commentators suggest that 'transparency is the new objectivity'.13 In other words, if a news organization or journalist is open about their biases or personal views, then the consumer can take them into account and trust the source as a consequence.
13 Technologist David Weinberger and co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto: http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger transparency-is-the-new-objectivity. If you're British or German, you'll have a stated preference for a more traditional approach to news.
If you have a university degree and a good income, you'll prefer to have evidence to make up your own mind.
NEW APPROACHES TO PAID DIGITAL
CONTENT
New strategies for paid content
Membership and community
Push for digital revenues
Keeping subscribers is more about the actual experience of the content, the writers, and the range of content that they receive. While traditional brands such as the BBC in particular endure in the UK, it is nonetheless the case that the rapid growth of social media as a means of news consumption has a range of possible ramifications.
TV continues to be the most popular platform for breaking news – but this masks considerable
How do people find the relevant news information once on the social media or search engine site, and do they pay attention to the type of site they land on. Another is that people may pay less attention to the provenance of their news source, as long as it provides what appears to be the latest information on a topic.
GATEWAYS
AND JOURNEYS TO THE NEWS
UK CASE STUDY
This essay examines in detail how online news users in the UK get breaking news, and further analysis of a fast-moving story. The BBC is the most popular online brand for a fast-moving news story by a significant margin.
The BBC is the most popular online brand for a fast-moving news story by a significant margin
Three-quarters of search engine users choose sites they know and trust
Social media news consumption involves using professional and ‘amateur’ sources in broadly
For breaking news, almost half of respondents (46%) say they pay attention to posts from news brands/companies, and a similar proportion (45%) use posts from journalists – indicating that the individual journalist is as popular as the news brand on this area. On a net level, about three-quarters (77%) use professional sources and 65% "amateur sources", such as posts from eyewitnesses, friends and other people.
Summary
Four in ten (39%) say they search via keywords, and a similar proportion say they find and follow a relevant hashtag (39%). When it comes to more in-depth analysis, people are less likely to turn to posts by eyewitnesses, which is understandable given the need for a different kind of information, but perhaps surprisingly, they are also less likely to turn to posts by journalists (31% vs. 45% for breaking news).
HOW NEWS AND STORIES ARE
FOLLOWED ON TWITTER
Which accounts people follow for news
64% of Twitter users follow a professional news account
Twitter users are generally evenly distributed by gender, but target younger people more than the UK population as a whole. Source: YouGov Social Media Analysis Tool (SoMA) after a representative sample of 7000 UK Twitter users. Usage checked February 26–.
How people follow news stories
As the actual ceremony began, a news organization account - BBC Breaking News - posted a tweet encouraging users to follow the news from the Oscars live. While over 80% of the UK Twitter population was exposed to the Academy Awards, Ed Miliband's EU speech reached under 60%.
Conclusions
POSTSCRIPT AND FURTHER READING
OTHER RELEVANT SURVEYS
OTHER RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS FROM THE REUTERS INSTITUTE
