The leading newspaper in terms of overall reach in the United Kingdom from April 2019 to March 2020 was The Sun. The tabloid newspaper had a smartphone reach of over 31 million and a total reach of around 38 million individuals that year. The Metro had the highest reach via print, with over 8.7 million individuals per month reading the newspaper, which is distributed for free on public transportation.
News consumption in the UK
Over the past few decades, the
UK newspaper industry has visibly struggled due to the proliferation of social media and other digital platforms. As online media delivers regional and international news in real time and around the clock, many print publications have experienced significant readership declines. Between 2005 and 2019,
expenditure on newspapers in the UK dropped from 7.2 billion to 2.7 billion British pounds, and according to a 2020 survey, newspapers were a less
popular news source in the UK than the internet and television.
Online news are the latest craze
The
share of individuals reading or downloading online news, newspapers, and magazines in Great Britain (GB) has steadily increased in recent years. Therefore, many of the
UK’s most popular newspapers have moved online to combat dwindling audiences. Today, leading news brands such as The Guardian, The Times, and tabloid publications like The Sun have a significantly higher reach online than via their print editions. Despite this ongoing digitization of the UK print industry, BBC News online remained the
leading UK online news brand as of 2020.