The survey covered more than 74,000 people in 37 markets with 2026 people being interviewed in Australia. This report will only cover the Australian findings; the full report can be downloaded free here.
Advertising continued to shift online, with 50% of the total ad spend going to online platforms. Of this the majority went to Google and Facebook. The report also said there was an increase in mobile advertising, with ads on social media now a rival to TV ads when it came to affecting buying decisions.
The report said two-thirds of news consumers continued to watch television news.
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But trust in social media for news was low at 24%, with the study authors commenting that this "possibly reflects a growing awareness of a distinction between quality journalism and ‘fake news’."
As far as trust in brands went, ABC News scored 7.23 out of a possible maximum score of 10, with SBS News second at 7.1. The Australian Financial Review was third with a score of 6.86.
The report found that 20% of consumers now pay for their news, an increase of 7% over the previous report. In the rankings for paying for online news, Australia was fifth out of 37 countries polled.
The report also found that 30% of Australian consumers use an ad blocker, an increase of 6% over 2017. Country-wise, Australia was ranked 12th among 37 countries surveyed.
Eighty-two percent said that online sources, including social media, were their main news sources, up from 78% two years ago. The percentage using print fell from 38% in 2016 to 36% in 2018. Percentages for TV and social media were more or less unchanged.
Photo and graphics: courtesy Reuters