Although audiences still consume the majority of their online news from familiar and trusted brands, the way they access that content is changing. Our data show very different patterns of access across countries (see chart overleaf). In countries like Norway (63%), Finland (62%), and Denmark (55%), branded websites or apps are often the starting point for any news journey. By contrast, in Italy, Spain, Poland, or the Czech Republic a search engine is often the key gateway, with social media particularly important in Greece, Hungary, and Urban Brazil.
As we have seen in the previous section, sites or apps that aggregate news links are far more important in Korea (38%), Japan (43%), and the Czech Republic (36%) than elsewhere. Email is a core route to news in Belgium (40%) with more respondents saying they use it for news than directly accessing a website. It also plays an important role in Hungary (23%) and the US (20%) but is much less used in the United Kingdom (7%) and Finland (6%). Mobile alerts are increasingly important with Urban Turkey (21%), Sweden (16%), Portugal (16%), and Switzerland (15%) leading the way.
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STARTING POINTS FOR NEWS – ALL COUNTRIES
| USA | UK | GER | FRA | ITA | SPA | POR | IRE | NOR | SWE | FIN | DEN | BEL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct entry | 35% | 47% | 27% | 27% | 22% | 38% | 37% | 41% | 63% | 42% | 62% | 55% | 29% |
| Search | 30% | 20% | 37% | 35% | 54% | 50% | 41% | 34% | 25% | 27% | 15% | 16% | 33% |
| Social media | 35% | 25% | 21% | 26% | 36% | 39% | 41% | 31% | 33% | 33% | 24% | 35% | 27% |
| Aggregator | 9% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 9% | 10% | 5% | 7% | 9% | 11% | 9% | 5% | 5% |
| 20% | 7% | 15% | 22% | 13% | 15% | 29% | 8% | 8% | 9% | 6% | 18% | 40% | |
| Mobile alerts | 12% | 9% | 8% | 14% | 9% | 11% | 16% | 11% | 9% | 16% | 5% | 11% | 8% |
| NLD | SUI | AUT | HUN | CZE | POL | GRE | TUR | KOR | JPN | AUS | CAN | BRA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct entry | 48% | 46% | 29% | 48% | 45% | 27% | 44% | 41% | 13% | 12% | 31% | 33% | 43% |
| Search | 24% | 38% | 39% | 36% | 52% | 62% | 54% | 67% | 60% | 38% | 35% | 36% | 49% |
| Social media | 31% | 25% | 33% | 51% | 34% | 38% | 55% | 48% | 18% | 14% | 36% | 35% | 52% |
| Aggregator | 4% | 5% | 4% | 16% | 36% | 8% | 6% | 13% | 38% | 43% | 9% | 7% | 18% |
| 17% | 14% | 18% | 23% | 12% | 14% | 21% | 16% | 12% | 14% | 16% | 14% | 23% | |
| Mobile alerts | 13% | 15% | 10% | 5% | 3% | 7% | 8% | 21% | 12% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 13% |
Base: Total sample in each country