New study: News brands are surpassing Facebook in popularity

In the latest edition of our news consumption study, we are looking into the current state of consumption habits around news in the US, UK, Germany and Nordics. Since we published the first edition of our study back in 2017, a lot has changed in terms of which websites are now considered the most important.

Although Google is still seen as the most important website in almost all countries (except Norway), Facebook has dropped significantly in popularity. In all countries, far fewer people point out Facebook to be among their favourite websites. The biggest drop is seen in Norway, where 45% fewer people consider Facebook to be one of their three most important websites.

At the same time, our study shows that national publishers are climbing the ladder. BBC in the UK, DR in Denmark, Aftonbladet in Sweden and VG in Norway have now all surpassed Facebook on the list of favourite websites, while Yle in Finland is on level with Facebook in terms of popularity. Of course, social media like Facebook is by now primarily strong on apps, but it is still good news for all the publishers trying to find their digital sea-legs.

Online news sites are the preferred source of news

In fact, our study shows that there is even more good news for the publishers. In 2017, TV was the most used source of news in both the US, UK, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, but now online news sites have become the most used as well as the most important source of news in all countries except Germany, where TV is still the source of news used by most people.

Especially in Norway, online news sites are preferred when consuming news. Among the Norwegians, 81% use online news sites as a source of news on a weekly basis, while 45% consider online news sites to be their main source of news.

Trust in online news sites keep falling

While our study shows positive trends for the publishers, it’s not just all good news though. Trust in online news sites continues to decline. This is especially so in Sweden where 42% say they trust online news sites less than they did last year. Looking at all countries, we found at least 30% of people say their trust in online news is falling.

More people in the Nordics are paying for online news

Finally, our study shows that attitudes to paying for news vary widely according to which market you look at. In the Nordics, we see that far more people than in the US and UK are paying for news content.

In the UK, where the fewest people are paying for online news, only 8% are paying for a subscription, whereas 38% of the Norwegians are doing this. However, in all countries, there is huge potential for the publishers as 5-7% of those not paying for online news is considering starting doing this.

Get further insights

In our study, you can learn more about the current state of news consumption in the US, UK, Germany and Nordics. Enjoy!

The study is based on approximately 14.000 individual survey respondents across seven countries; The US, the UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

Download the full study and get further insights now: