Young adults are the first to leave behind traditional news media in favour of online news outlets but a large part of the population is still reading newspapers and watching the television news, according to government social policy think tank SCP.

In a report out today, the SCP presents an analysis of the use of old and new news media among 3,000 people during the year 2015.

Over half of the population (61%) uses at least one news medium a day and spends five consecutive minutes taking in the news. The largest group, 39%, watches the news as it is broadcast and 27% reads a physical paper. Online news sites and apps have to make do with 11 % ‘in spite of the ubiquitous presence of the new media’, the SCP said in a press release.

Young adults (aged 20 to 34) are the greatest consumers of online news, a clear sign, the SCP says, that this group has definitely made the changeover.

The over 65s, men and people with a higher than average education comprise the most avid users of news media.

Traditional

Older people still relate more to the traditional news outlets. The over 50s are also more thorough when it comes to reading the newspaper. They spend an hour on average compared to other age groups who spend some 45 minutes.

People with a lower than average education tend to get their news from television. Although the difference is small more men than women use online news media.

A small group of people have no idea what is going on in the world: according to the SCP figures some 5% of people over the age of 13 do not use news media at all.