There is no denying that the way people consume newspapers and magazines has changed. As of 2020, more than two thirds of individuals in Great Britain were either reading or downloading online news, newspapers or magazines. This was more than three times the share of online readers as compared to 2007. The share of UK online readers was higher than the European Union (EU 28) average. As of February 2019, BBC News online had the highest share of readers in the UK, with the Guardian and Mail Online coming in as second and third choice.

How do people like their news?

According to an Ofcom study, both television and the internet were more likely to be a source of news over newspapers across all UK countries. In fact, in Northern Ireland, individuals were more likely to receive news via word of mouth rather than through a physical newspaper or printed magazine.

Social media and news

In some European countries, approximately half of news consumers used Facebook as a source of news, while in the UK, it was approximately one quarter of news consumers. In the UK, Facebook was the leading social media network as a source for news, followed by Twitter and YouTube.

From 2006 to 2022, both print and digital newspaper readership decreased in Italy. While in 2006 almost ** million people read newspapers on a regular basis (at least five times per week), in 2022, only *** million people were doing so. The decrease is even sharper where occasional readers are concerned - i.e. those who read newspapers at least once a week, with the number falling from over ** million in 2006 to just over ** million in 2022. Written articles? No, thanks This sharp decline could be explained in different ways. One of the most obvious reasonings could be attributing it exclusively to the fall in print press sales. Beside the overall decline of print newspapers however, a mild decrease occurred in online news consumption as well. This is clear evidence of the fact that not only sales of printed newspapers decreased, but also that this decline has not been counterbalanced by an increase of online copies. Because of this reason, it is possible to conclude that Italians are, in general, less and less interested in reading written articles. Instead, they prefer to inform themselves through social networks and TV, as this statistic shows. A different trend across Europe The conclusion proposed in the previous paragraph cannot be generalized for all European countries. Indeed, across Europe, the share of people reading online newspapers and magazines increased by almost *** percent from 2013 to 2017 , while Italy seems not to follow such European trend.

Online formats were the most used for weekly newspaper readership in Canada as of November 2023, according to a study on newspaper readership. A total of 59 percent of surveyed respondents stated to read newspaper content on websites or apps. Yet, despite traditional news media waning in popularity, newspapers in print format or their online counterparts were not far behind in the ranking, with 46 percent of respondents saying they read them this way.

This statistic shows the share of readers of digital newspapers and magazines in France from 2013 to 2021. In 2021, ** percent of all respondents stated that they read newspapers and magazines online.

In July 2021, Mail Online had an average daily audience of *** million people aged 15 years or above, making this newspaper brand the highest ranking in the United Kingdom in terms of daily audience. The Sun and The Guardian ranked second and third respectively.

In 2021, around ** percent of newsreaders were reading news online in South Korea. On average, around ** percent of South Koreans were reading the news, either in traditional printed newspapers or online.

Social media was by far the most popular news platform among 18 to 34-year-olds in the United States, with 47 percent of respondents to a survey held in August 2022 saying that they used social networks for news on a daily basis. By comparison, adults over 65 years old mostly used network news to keep up to date.

The decline of newspapers In the past, the reasons to regularly go out and purchase a print newspaper were many. Used not only for news but also apartment hunting, entertainment, and job searches (among other things), newspapers once served multiple purposes. This is no longer the case, with first television and then the internet taking care of consumer needs once covered by printed papers. Indeed, the paid circulation of daily weekday newspapers in the United States has fallen dramatically since the 1980s with no sign of future improvement.

News consumption habits

A survey on news consumption by gender found that 50 percent of women use either online-only news sites or social media for news each day, and 51 percent of male respondents said the same. Social media was by far the most used daily news platform among U.S. Millennials, and the same was true of Gen Z. One appeal of online news is that it often comes at no cost to the consumer. Paying for news found via digital outlets is not yet commonplace in the United States, with only 21 percent of U.S. consumers responding to a study held in early 2021 reporting having paid for online news content in the last year.

In April 2025, the news website with the most monthly visits in the United States was nytimes.com, with a total of ***** million monthly visits in that month. In second place was cnn.com with just over *** million visits, followed by foxnews.com with almost a ****** of a million. Online news consumption in the U.S. Americans get their news in a variety of ways, but social media is an increasingly popular option. A survey on social media news consumption revealed that ** percent of Twitter users regularly used the site for news, and Facebook and Reddit were also popular for news among their users. Interestingly though, social media is the least trusted news sources in the United States. News and trust Trust in news sources has become increasingly important to the American news consumer amidst the spread of fake news, and the public are more vocal about whether or not they have faith in a source to report news correctly. Ongoing discussions about the credibility, accuracy and bias of news networks, anchors, TV show hosts, and news media professionals mean that those looking to keep up to date tend to be more cautious than ever before. In general, news audiences are skeptical. In 2020, just **** percent of respondents to a survey investigating the perceived objectivity of the mass media reported having a great deal of trust in the media to report news fully, accurately, and fairly.

A survey held in the United Kingdom in 2019 revealed that adults aged between 35 and 44 years old were the most likely to go online for their political news, whereas just ** percent of those aged 16 to 24 years did the same.

BBC News online was by far the most popular news brand in the United Kingdom, with ** percent of respondents stated that they accessed it for news information every week as of February 2024. The Guardian online, Sky News online, and Mail Online were among the other leading news brands as of early 2024, with The Guardian reaching ** percent of users weekly, and both Sky News and Mail Online achieving ** percent weekly penetration.

Online news consumption has been growing at pace with the traditional media in India. In fact, legacy media brands that use traditional media are just as popular in the online sphere. When respondents were asked about which online brands they used to access news in a survey conducted in 2025, ** percent said they used ****, while ********* and ******** followed.

The share of internet users reading news online in Estonia increased by 1.6 percentage points in 2022 in comparison to the previous year. In total, the share of online news readers amounted to 79.92 percent in 2022. This increase was preceded by a declining share of online news readers.The EU survey on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in households and by individuals is an annual survey conducted since 2002 aiming at collecting and disseminating harmonised and comparable information on the use of ICT in households and by individuals. Data presented in this domain are collected on a yearly basis by the National Statistical Institutes and are based on Eurostat's annual model questionnaire. This questionnaire is updated each year to reflect the evolving situation of information and communication technologiesFind more statistics on other topics about Estonia with key insights such as share of daily internet users, share of internet users seeking health information online, share of internet users informing themselves about goods and services online, share of internet users looking for and applying for jobs online, share of internet users engaging in online learning activities, and share of people that upload self-created content.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2021, around ** percent of female news readers stated that they read online newspapers. Among male news readers, around **** percent did the same. Overall, an average of **** percent of news readers read digital newspapers.

The coronavirus pandemic that hit the world at the beginning of 2020 has impacted several aspects of many people's routines. The increasing reliance on the internet and mobile devices to check the news can be noticed as **** percent of the readership of the newspaper Libération was digital in 2023, exceeding by far the print format.

According to a survey conducted in South Korea in 2021, around **** percent of South Korean news readers aged 13 to 19 years were reading online newspapers. Over ** percent of news readers between the ages of 13 and 59 years read digital newspapers, making them far more popular than print newspapers. Respondents aged 80 years and older were the only age group that did not have a majority of online news readers.

In Australia from March 2020 to March 2021, the Sydney Morning Herald recorded an audience of approximately **** million people for its digital edition. By comparison, The Age had **** million readers, whereas the Daily Telegraph had **** million.

A 2025 poll conducted in Italy showed that ** percent of users browsed the website of TgCom24 on a weekly basis to read the news, while La Repubblica online, the web version of the national newspaper, was used as a news source by just ** percent of respondents. The website of news agency Ansa was accessed regularly by ** percent of Italian internet users participating in the survey. La Repubblica online According to data from December 2020, the website of the national newspaper La Repubblica had a daily online reach of about *** thousand users through desktops, while over *** million users land on the site through smartphones. Between 2014 and 2018, the average daily audience seemed to have increased from *** to *** million users, and the website became more popular on social networks. On the Facebook page alone, the number of fans increased from *** million fans in 2015 to about four million fans in the first half of 2018.  Users opinion A poll released in 2017 indicated the main opinions of Italian readers about the website of La Repubblica. ** percent of respondents believed the online newspaper had strong viewpoints and ** percent thought it helped understanding complex issues.

Franceinfo.fr was the most visited news site in France in July 2024, with more than *** million unique visitors. Online publications LeFigaro.fr and Bfmtv.com rounded out the top three with around *** million and *** million visits, respectively. Newspaper consumption trends in France A survey on newspaper and magazine readership in France revealed that roughly ** percent of adults engaged with printed or digital newspapers regularly as of 2021, whereas another ** percent of respondents stated they never read newspapers of any sort. While interest in the news has remained strong over the years, data also showed that spending on print media in France has continuously declined for over a decade. There is no denying that the proliferation of social media and other digital platforms that deliver news in real-time and around the clock has caused many print publications to experience declines in readership and relevance. Online news is the latest craze The latest data on online news audiences in France indicated that approximately ** percent of internet users visited news websites in 2021. This share grew from just over ** percent in 2015, highlighting the ever-increasing appeal of online publications among French readers. Many of the country’s most popular newspapers have consequently moved online to combat dwindling audiences, and looking at a readership breakdown of Le Figaro, for example, this shift has proven to be immensely successful. Meanwhile, readers are also consuming more news content via smartphones than ever, with Le Monde and Le Figaro leading news applications in France boasting over ** million visits in 2022.

Checking the news online via mobile devices is becoming the norm among French press readers. Smartphones were indeed the most used devices to that effect in France. If most French newspapers recorded an increase in interest in digital press, the newspaper Le Parisien & Aujourd'hui en France ranked first with a **** percent evolution from 2022 to 2023.

The statistic displays the online news, newspaper and magazine readership distribution in Italy in 2019, ranked by region. Over the period of consideration, Friuli-Venezia Giulia ranked first, as almost 60 percent of its inhabitants used the internet to read online newspapers and magazines.