Reuters Institute Digital Report

Recent Publications

The Digital-Born and Legacy News Media on Twitter during the French Presidential Elections
Pay Models in European News
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Journalism, Media and Technology Predictions 2017
The Rise of Fact-Checking Sites in Europe

Overview

This year's report reveals new insights about digital news consumption based on a YouGov survey of over 20,000 online news consumers in the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Brazil, Japan and Australia. This year's data shows a quickening of the pace towards social media platforms as routes to audiences, together with a surge in the use of mobile for news, a decline in the desktop internet and significant growth in video news consumption online.

Explore the Report

Summary of Findings
Chapter One: Analysis by Country
Chapter Two: News Consumption
Chapter Three: Paying for News
Chapter Four: Online News
Essays
Interactive
Resources and Charts

Download the 2015 Digital News Report

Key findings

Introduction

Mobiles and tablets

The use of smartphones for news has jumped significantly in the past year, but tablet growth has slowed.
Almost half of online news users across all countries (45%) use two or more digital devices each week for news and a quarter (25%) now say their mobile phone is their primary access point - up from 20% last year.
Read more on new devices

Disruption to traditional media

We see increased usage of digital-born brands that produce content for a mobile and social world. Buzzfeed has doubled its market share in the United States to 10% with the Huffington Post now neck and neck with Yahoo News.
But three quarters (74%) still access a traditional newspaper in print or online each week. 89% access a broadcaster via TV, radio or online.
Read more country based and comparative data

Business of journalism

Sales of printed newspapers have continued to fall in most countries but we no discernible increase in paid online content – or in willingness to pay. Only 6% pay for news in the Uk, rising to 14% in Finland
we find significant consumer dissatisfaction with online advertising, expressed through the rapid take up of ad blockers (47% in US and 39% in the UK) and disquiet over the blurring lines between editorial and advertising.
Read more on paying for news

Social networks

Facebook has increased its hold on news distribution over the past year with referrals to top news sites up 42%. Across all countries 41% use Facebook for news each week. Brazilians use it most (70%), Japanese least (11%).
Younger generations are turning to newer networks like WhatsApp, Snapchat and Tumblr but take up is uneven. 27% use WhatsApp for news in Spain but only 1% in the United States.
Read more on social networks

Interactive

Explore the data behind the report

Explore the 2015 data and build your own charts. Compare dimensions and data types between or within countries,

Comment & analysis

How Turkey Uses Social Media

Digital strategist and Turkey specialist Esra Doğramacı and the report’s contributing author and researcher Damian Radcliffe examine some of the key issues for social media users in Turkey.

The Rise of Mobile and Social News – and What it Means for Journalism

Emily Bell, Director of the Tow Center at Columbia University, explores the growing power of mobile and social platforms in news distribution

Mind the Gap

The Business Outlook: Constraints on Growth, But Some Hopeful Signs in Digital News Provision

Generational Gaps – UK News Consumption and the Impact of Age

Attitudes to Sponsored and Branded Content (Native Advertising)

About us

The Reuters Institute Digital News Report aims to deliver useful and timely data about the transition to digital. Read more about our annual survey ...