No Takers For The Telly? UK’s Young Generation Has Given Up On Television News ‘Almost Entirely’, Finds Study

A study by United Kingdom’s (UK) government communications regulator Ofcom has found that news consumption in the country by source has been increasingly divergent along generational and ethnic lines, The Guardian has reported.

While people aged 65 and above watch TV news for an average 33 minutes a day, the younger generation, people between 16-24 years, watch the news on TV for just 2 minutes per day.

Similarly, while the older generation and white Britons are seen as sticking to television and print outlets for news, younger generation and minorities are following a much different news agenda fuelled through social media. Print outlets are selling fewer papers too, with the number more than halving from 22 million in 2010 to 10.4 million in 2018.

The people are also increasingly engaging in discussions on social media. “There is evidence that UK adults are consuming news more actively via social media. For example, those who access news shared by news organisations, trending news or news stories from friends and family or other people they follow via Facebook or Twitter are more likely to make comments on the new posts they see compared to the previous year.”

Several media outlets have shifted their models from print to online, with Mail Online and The Guardian being cited as examples.