Content on “mainstream” news media websites was accessed by 95 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds in June, with 89 per cent reading more than one of them, according to UKOM analysis of Comscore data.
Websites accessed include those of traditional daily newspapers as well as BBC News and Sky News online.
Content appearing on the “news” section at six online newspaper websites – Mail Online, Guardian, Sun, Mirror, Independent and Telegraph – was accessed by 84 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds in the same month with a third viewing content from two or more of these sites, the analysis showed.
The UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM), which sets and governs the UK industry standard for online audience measurement, said the figures showed the “mainstream media still has a huge role to play in bringing news and content to young adults online”.
“Whilst young people may not be buying newspapers as much as they once did, they also aren’t consuming news from just one publisher which they would have been more inclined to do when they had to pay for a physical daily newspaper,” a spokesperson said.
June was a busy month for news, with the snap general election, the London Bridge terror attack and the Grenfell Tower fire disaster all making headlines.
UKOM said the internet and social media offered readers “exposure and easy access to news stories from multiple sources with contrasting opinions and analysis”.
In June for example, the “news” sections at Mail Online and Mirror Online reached 48 per cent and 41 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds respectively with 22 per cent viewing online news content on both websites.
The Comscore data includes content accessed through desktop browsing, desktop video streams, smartphone browsing and apps, and tablet browsing and apps.
Comscore is a cross-platform measurement company. It uses a tag on each news website page to analyse the audience for a website.
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