Broadcast still leads the national conversation: on TV and then social media
Radio and TV newsroom still sets the news agenda, carried directly and by online intermediaries into social media feeds.
Ofcom published its annual News Report for 2026 in mid-September. It’s based on data from a survey of 5,000 adults and 1,000 children, with an additional snapshot taken immediately after the May local elections in the UK.
Stories pitched to broadcasters reach people directly and indirectly via platforms. It’s the only media that still has the reach and influence to set a national news agenda. This is the way that news has always worked, but increasingly broadcast content feeds online platforms as well as other media.
This is the argument that Be Broadcast founder Josh Tracey-Wheeler makes. Broadcast is the only media still able to lead the national conversation, but it does so in two stages: radio and television set the news agenda and social media takes it into the national conversation.
Once you understand the data and the dynamic it’s clear why savvy communicators still prioritise broadcast news while also taking content direct to their own audiences.
Stage one: broadcast sets the agenda
Television reaches 79% of UK adults for news every month. Online is three points higher at 82%. Online overtook television for news in 2024, a crossover Ofcom has now confirmed for a third year. It’s a shift we’ll need to keep an eye on in the coming year.
Ofcom firmly puts to rest the nonsense that mainstream broadcast is dead (nine million people watched the first night of Celebrity Traitors live last week).
Through all its services the BBC reaches more than three-quarters (77%) of adults, ITV 50%, and Sky and Global 32% each. Public service broadcasters together reach 82%.
Time spent consuming news tells the same story. Adults spend an estimated 72 minutes a day with news. Television accounts for a quarter. That’s level with social media and video platforms combined.
Stage two: social media carries the broadcasters
73% of adults reach news through an online intermediary and 60% through social media or a video platform.
Among 16 to 24-year-olds the figures are 87% and 78%. This is the crossover moment identified by the Reuters Institute Digital News Report in June that shows platforms pulling ahead of publishers.
But look at whose news people see when they get there. Among people who see news on YouTube, 69% see a UK broadcaster and 52% the BBC. On X it’s 68% and 50%.
Even on TikTok, the platform most associated with creators, 57% see a UK broadcaster against 22% who see influencers.
Broadcasters lead for a reason. Among people who use each platform for news, 65% rate broadcast TV as trustworthy and 61% radio.
Here’s the strategic insight: platforms such as ChatGPT, Facebook and TikTok do not make news. They are channels. Trust scores for news carried by these intermediaties fall to 39%.
The credibility of the source of a story erodes with the channel. Two-thirds of adults trust BBC News on its own platforms. That falls to half on social media.
What it means for your work
There are three insights for strategic communicators from this data and analysis.
Broadcast is a strategic investment - broadcasters set the news agenda that is distributed and amplified by platforms.
If a story isn’t strong enough for broadcast, go direct - your own video, podcast or newsletter can still reach your audience.
Watch the outliers - TikTok leads among children, while one in five adults now get news from AI. Both are growing.
The news bulletin still sets the national conversation but it definitely doesn’t end there. Use the data from the report to challenge your media planning assumptions.
Disclosure: Be Broadcast is a Wadds Inc. client.
Further reading
This article was originally posted on my Substack. The Wadds Inc. newsletter is read by almost 6,000 communications and public relations practitioners. We take a slower, critical perspective on the research, evidence and developments shaping the field. We put evidence before opinion, and we say how confident we are in what we publish.
