In short
The way we consume news is getting harder to put into neat boxes. We’re watching broadcasters on YouTube, finding headlines through social feeds, turning to AI for updates – and, despite everything we hear about shrinking attention spans, plenty of us still want to get stuck into longer-form journalism.
Ofcom’s latest News Report gives a fascinating picture of where UK audiences are finding their news, who they’re getting it from and how those habits are changing.
Our Head of Media, Claire Butler, has been digging into the report to pick out what matters most for earned media. Here are the five things that caught Claire’s attention.
1. Younger audiences haven’t stopped consuming news – they’re just finding it differently
For children aged 12–15, social media and video-sharing platforms are now the main way of accessing news. 78% access news through social media, with TikTok (42%) and YouTube (38%) the most-used individual services. By comparison, 39% had watched television news and just 16% had accessed news organisations’ websites and apps directly.
But the more interesting bit is what they’re seeing when they get there. As Ofcom puts it, “much of the news children aged 12-15 encounter through social media is from established broadcasters.” Among 12–15-year-olds using YouTube for news, 64% reported seeing news from UK broadcasters. On X that rises to 70%.
TikTok is different. Children seeing news there are slightly more likely to encounter influencers, independent commentators or online-native creators (46%) than UK broadcasters (42%). On YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and X, the balance goes the other way, with broadcasters more likely to be encountered.
And what they’re interested in is different too. Entertainment-related subjects such as music, film, celebrities and sport come well ahead of politics or international conflict – but who can blame them…?
We’re often asked how to reach younger audiences and the interesting point is that it doesn’t necessarily mean finding new titles or bypassing established media. Those media brands are reaching them, just in different places. It does mean thinking harder about the type of story that will interest them, how visual it is, and whether the assets around it are right for the platforms where they’re most likely to come across it.
2. Cut-through still starts with the story – but media need more to work with
With audiences finding news in more places than ever, it would be easy to focus on platforms and formats. But none of that matters if the story itself isn’t strong enough.
The essentials for earned media cut-through haven’t really changed. How does the story fit into the news agenda? Why is it relevant to a wider national audience? And, crucially, why now? There still needs to be a reason for an editor, producer or journalist – and ultimately their audience – to care about it today and that needs to be at the crux of every campaign.
What has changed is how that story needs to be packaged. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of adults access news through online intermediaries (i.e Google), while 60% access it through social media or video-sharing platforms.
So once the story is right, what else can help extend its reach? Great photography is a must, but there’s also compelling video, vertical edits, different cuts of footage, strong spokespeople, useful data and simple graphics.
From the get-go, think about building a media toolkit that helps tell the story – giving media a bank of useful content that can work across publisher sites, social feeds, video and broadcast.
3. People are watching the news on YouTube. And they’re watching YouTube on their TVs. Yes, really
Facebook remains the biggest social platform for news among adults at 39%, but YouTube isn’t far behind at 33%.
And it’s not just YouTubers giving their own take on the day’s headlines. Much of the news people encounter there comes from established broadcasters. Among adults using YouTube for news, 69% encounter news from UK broadcasters, including 52% who see BBC content.
Then there’s the bit that really blurs the lines between digital and traditional media: Apparently, 46% of in-home YouTube viewing in 2025 happened on an actual TV, up from 27% in 2022.
So it sounds bonkers but people are watching news from traditional broadcasters, via YouTube, on their television. The distinction between ‘TV’, ‘social’ and ‘online’ is becoming increasingly hard to make.
For PR, it’s another reason to think about the visual potential of a story from the start. Strong footage, spokespeople, demonstrations and video that can work in different formats aren’t just nice extras. If a story is going to work across all these different formats, ‘would someone actually want to watch this’ is becoming a really important question to ask.
4. AI is already becoming part of people’s news habits
Another interesting one: 21% of adults say they’ve used an AI tool for news, rising to 30% of 16–24s. ChatGPT alone was used for news by 13% of adults.
But among those who consume news this way, only 44% rate news delivered through AI apps and services as trustworthy, compared with 65% for broadcast TV. Social media and video-sharing platforms are lower still at 39%.
There’s obviously a lot still to play out here, but it’s a useful reminder that trusted journalism and credible news brands still matter, even as the ways people discover information change.
5. Longer-form content isn’t going anywhere either
Despite all the talk about shrinking attention spans, Ofcom’s research around the May elections found that 64% preferred longer-form election coverage such as articles and news bulletins, compared with 18% who preferred shorter formats. TV was also the most widely used platform for election news, reaching 62% of those aware of the elections.
There is an age difference for this. 40% of 16–24s preferred shorter-form election content, compared with 7% of over-55s. But even among that younger audience, short-form wasn’t the preference of the majority.
So perhaps it’s less about short versus long, and more about having a story that can do both – something that can grab attention quickly, but has enough substance for those who want to know more.
The overall takeaway?
People haven’t lost their appetite for news. But there are now many more ways for them to find it – and the same piece of journalism can reach people well beyond the place it was originally published or broadcast.
For earned media, the fundamentals haven’t really changed: relevance, timeliness and a clear reason to care. But we also need to think from the start about how that story could travel across platforms and what it will look like when it gets there.
Images and video can’t be a secondary thought. Planning how a story will play out visually – across different platforms, audiences and formats – should be a priority from the beginning. That means building the story and the supporting toolkit together, rather than landing on an idea and then asking what content we can create around it.
So perhaps there are five questions worth asking at the start of any campaign: Why this story? Why now? Why will people care? Where could it go next? And what will people actually see or watch when it gets there?
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