BBC One suffers record drop as audiences turn to social media for news

BBC One has suffered a record drop in audiences for its news bulletins, with increasing numbers of people reading headlines via social media platforms.

For the first time, online sites overtook television as the UK’s main source of news.

Viewers turned away from the BBC’s scheduled News at Ten, News at Six, and lunchtime bulletins, according to a report by Ofcom.

BBC One remains the most-used single source of news, with 43 per cent of those surveyed saying they watch it, down from 49 per cent in 2023 – the biggest drop since the annual survey began.

Figures for the BBC News Channel, BBC News website and app are down, with more people accessing the corporation’s content via social media.

The number of people who chose ITV’s daily bulletins as a source of news has fallen, from 34 per cent in 2023 to 30 per cent.

Television bulletins have been the leading source of news since the days of Kenneth Kendall, Richard Baker and Reginald Bosanquet in the 1960s. But the overall reach of TV news fell sharply from 75 per cent to 70 per cent last year.

Meanwhile, 71 per cent of adults who access news do so online – the main driving factor being the increasing use of social media.

Four of the 10 most popular news sources in the UK are Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and X, formerly Twitter. Channel 4 has fallen out of the top 10 for the first time.

Among young people aged 16-24, only 49 per cent use television to access the news, while 12 per cent of 12 to 15 year-olds say TikTok is their main source of news.

YouTube is more popular than BBC News online as a news source for young people.

Audiences rate social media platforms less favourably than TV and radio for accuracy, trust and impartiality.

Review of public service media

Ofcom has announced a review of public service media (PSM), looking at how its news is made available to audiences online, and considering potential changes in regulation or legislation to support PSM media in the future.

Yih-Choung Teh, Ofcom’s group director of strategy and research, said: “Television has dominated people’s news habits since the 60s, and it still commands really high trust.

“But we’re witnessing a generational shift to online news, which is often seen as less reliable – together with growing fears about misinformation and deep fake content.

“Ofcom wants to secure high-quality news for the next generation, so we’re kicking off a review of the public service media that help underpin the UK’s democracy and public debate.”

A BBC spokesman said: “This report shows that by far the largest percentage of UK adults use the BBC as a trusted news source and confirms that audience habits are rapidly changing, which is why BBC News is continuing to shift resources to digital, although TV and radio remain incredibly important.

“Of course, the headline figure would likely be even higher if the large numbers of people accessing BBC News through ‘intermediaries’ such as social media platforms were factored in.

“For instance, we know that more than half of young audiences saw BBC News’ coverage of this year’s general election on social media.”

Fran Unsworth, the BBC’s former head of news, predicted in 2020 that the BBC’s scheduled bulletins would soon be obsolete.

“Ultimately, in 10 years’ time, we probably won’t be consuming linear bulletins exactly. I mean, I might be wrong about that. I doubt it,” she said.