More get their news online than from TV - Ofcom

For the first time more people in Northern Ireland source their news online rather than TV, new research suggests.

The research by the broadcast regulator Ofcom reveals 63% of the people in Northern Ireland surveyed said they used online services for news.

That was marginally higher than the proportion who said they watched TV news bulletins.

The findings for Northern Ireland echo those in Ofcom's research for the UK as a whole.

However, BBC One remains the most single used source for news in Northern Ireland.

44% of adults surveyed said they used it to get news - slightly more than ITV or UTV.

BBC News NI was the most used app or website for news in Northern Ireland, with 15% of adults saying they used it.

That was over twice as many as those who said they used either Belfast Live, the Belfast Telegraph, the Guardian and the Daily Mail - the next four most popular news websites and apps.

Over one-in-five adults said they used BBC iPlayer for news, while Radio Ulster or Radio Foyle were the most used radio stations for news.

Facebook, Instagram, X - formerly known as Twitter - and YouTube were the most popular social media sources of news.

They were all in the top ten most used individual sources of news overall, according to Ofcom.

WhatsApp was used by around one-in-seven adults for news, with TikTok used by around one-in-ten.

Fewer than one-in-five adults said that they get news from printed newspapers.

Previous research by Ofcom suggested that adults in Northern Ireland are more likely to consume any type of news compared to the rest of the UK

But it also said that "reaching younger audiences with news via any route" was "increasingly difficult".

Ofcom also asked people how interested they were in news about their own nation or region.

Overall, around four-in-five adults in Northern Ireland surveyed said they were very or quite interested in news about Northern Ireland - a higher interest than the UK average.