- News content increasingly surfaced and curated by online gatekeepers, rather than sought from news brands direct
- YouTube rapidly gaining ground on Facebook as most popular social media platform for news
- News from trusted broadcasters continues to cut through
One in five UK adults are now using AI tools such as ChatGPT to keep up to date with the latest news, according to Ofcom’s annual report on the nation’s news consumption habits.
Ofcom's News Report 2026 reveals dramatic shifts in how news is being distributed and consumed across the UK’s fragmented media landscape. With a multitude of online intermediaries, commentators, influencers and specialist outlets, as well as traditional news brands and publishers competing for our attention, UK adults now encounter around 12 different sources for news on average each month, rising to 18 among 25-34-year-olds.
Digital platforms and gatekeepers play an increasingly central role in how we discover news content. More than eight in ten adults (82%) accessed news via online sources in the past month - more than any other platform - although television remains a major route to news (79%), particularly among older audiences. Similarly, of the estimated 72 minutes that adults spend each day consuming news, most time is now spent on online platforms (34 minutes), compared to 18 minutes for television.
Almost three-quarters (73%) of adults now access news stories through online intermediaries – including social media, video-sharing platforms, search engines, news aggregators and AI tools. In contrast, around six in ten (57%) get their news directly through news publishers’ websites and apps.
AI tools becoming a gateway to news
For the first time, the research includes a closer lookinto people’s use of AI intermediaries to access news. It finds that 21% of adults have used an AI app or service for this purpose in the past month, with use concentrated among younger adults and people from more affluent households. ChatGPT was the most popular AI tool for news, used by 13% of adults.
But while AI is becoming a common route to news, people remain cautious. Over half of adults (56%) report that they are less trustful of an AI-written news story than one written by a person.
Algorithm-driven news surfaced by social media gatekeepers
News consumption today is increasingly passive – often reaching us incidentally and continuously as we scroll through social media via personalised feeds, shares and recommendations.
Social media and video-sharing platforms remain the most common intermediary route to news, used by 60% of adults in the past month, rising to 78% among both 16-24-year-olds and children aged 12-15. Facebook remains the .
Despite the increasing role social media intermediaries play, very few people (2%) rely on them exclusively for their news diet.
Established broadcasters’ news content cutting through online
While social media, video-sharing platforms and AI are important gateways to news, much of the content encountered via these channels still comes from established broadcasters, rather than native creators.
The BBC remains the most used news provider overall, reaching 80% of adults in the past month, including its news seen on social media as well as directly on its own services It also remains popular among younger adults, with BBC news content accessed by two thirds of 16-24-year-olds.
The BBC was also the most prominent news source encountered across every major social media and video-sharing platform, followed by Sky and ITV. The exception to this trend is seen in children’s consumption of news on TikTok, with news content from influencers or independent commentators (46%) more prevalent than from UK broadcasters (42%).
Audiences favour TV for trustworthy election news
While audiences are embracing new routes to news, they remain discerning about where they place their trust. Broadcast television and radio continue to generally outperform online platforms for trustworthiness, accuracy and impartiality.
Additional research conducted in the aftermath of the May 2026 local, mayoral, Scottish Parliament and Senedd elections also found that traditional media remained particularly important during major democratic events. Television was the most-used source of election news, reaching 62% of people who were aware of the elections, nearly double the reach of online sources (33%).
The BBC's main television news bulletin was the single biggest media source of election information, while audiences generally rated traditional broadcast news sources as more accurate, trustworthy and impartial than political advertising or election content seen on social media.
Ian McCrae, Director of Market Intelligence, said: “In today’s ‘always on’ environment, most people don’t go direct to the news, the news is coming to them through different online intermediaries, increasingly AI-enabled.
"But while audiences are discovering news in new ways, they remain discerning about the sources they trust, particularly in moments like elections, and public service media brands continue to play a vital role.
“Given the fundamental shifts rapidly taking hold across the news landscape, tpublic service media must continue to evolve their distribution strategies to continue to meet audiences where they are, and ultimately, avoid getting drowned out by the noise.”
Notes to editors
- Important: This year's survey uses an updated methodology, designed to better reflect modern news consumption behaviours. Members of the media should check carefully before comparing data sets with previous years’ surveys.
- This report highlights the key insights from Ofcom’s latest News Consumption Survey (NCS), which explores the different ways UK adults and children aged 12-15 access news today and their attitudes towards different providers.
- The report also incorporates findings from our Public Service Media Tracker and Local Media Survey. This year we also conducted a survey immediately following the elections in May to provide a snapshot of behaviours and attitudes in a specific news moment.
- The key change was to broaden how respondents are asked to think about 'news', enabling us to capture more passive or incidental exposure. We also now ask participants to think about news they’ve come across over the past month, rather than ‘nowadays’, which encourages people to think more specifically about their behaviours.
- The adults’ survey was conducted using a mixed-mode approach, combining online (70%) and face-to-face (30%) interviews, while the children’s survey was conducted online only. The changes introduced in the latest survey mean that, as expected, there are some differences from previous years are expected. Most notably, reported news consumption is higher across all platforms, demonstrating the impact of the updated approach.
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