Takeaways from Ofcom’s Adults’ Media Use & Attitudes Report

Ofcom’s 2026 Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report presents the findings from its Adults’ Media Literacy Tracker with insights from their qualitative study, Adults Media Lives. They identify the extent and range of adults’ media literacy in the UK, capturing how people use, understand and navigate media and digital technologies, both online and across other parts of their everyday environment.

The report is packed full of insights, but I’ve pulled out my three main takeaways and also reflected on their implications for marketing in the heritage and cultural sectors:

1.     Adults are becoming less active on social media and exploring fewer new websites

Posting and commenting on social media has declined from 61% last year to 49% this year. People more likely to share, post or comment include younger adults aged 16-34 (58%) and those in AB socio-economic households (57%).

Exploration of new websites has also fallen, with only 14% using ‘lots’ of new sites (down from 24% last year) and 40% using no new sites (compared to 28%). The report suggests this may be due to people being more likely to use a ‘one stop shop’ type approach online (e.g. reading AI-generated search summaries and using TikTok for search and social reasons.

2.     Feelings about being online are less positive

Notably, the proportion of adults who feel the benefits of being online outweigh the risks has fallen to 59% (from 72% last year). Interestingly, the proportion is lower for 16-24s (52%) and women (54%), compared to people aged 75+ (63%) and men (64%).

Only 36% of social media users say that these platforms are good for their mental health, down from 42% last year. Results vary depending on usage – the figure is 45% for ‘active’ social media users (who share, post or comment), compared to only 25% for ‘passive’ users (who only read or like content).

67% say they sometimes spend too long on screens, and 40% say their screen time is too high every day or most days (I’m almost surprised these aren’t higher!).

3.     More adults are using AI chatbots and overviews

Just over half of adults (54%) now say they use tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini, compared to 31% last year. This is highest in younger age groups (79% of 16-24s and 74% of 25-34s).

75% of online adults read AI-generated search summaries at least sometimes, with 42% reading them often or always. Even among those who don’t use AI chatbots, more than half (54%) say they read AI search summaries at least sometimes.

Beyond that there’s:

• a healthy reminder about digital exclusion still persisting

• things not changing – social media platforms remaining strongly age-skewed (Snapchat is used by 78% of 16-24s compared to 3% of 75+, and TikTok by 83% versus 7%; Facebook remains most popular among the oldest group, used by 81% of online 75+ year olds. The main exception is WhatsApp, which is widely used across all ages)

• some interesting synergies and discrepancies between peoples’ confidence vs their actual ability to spot AI content, ads, scams and fake social media profiles

• stats on how trust in mainstream media varies

• some examples of other uses of AI chatbots, e.g. being used as emotional support and to combat loneliness.

So, what are the implications of Ofcom’s 2026 Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report for our marketing?

As a starter:

• We need to understand this digital fatigue, passivity and fragile attention

• As users become less participatory on social media, we need to redefine our KPIs and what metrics we value

• We need to create low-friction content that doesn’t demand interaction (short-form video, carousels, tips, insights, summaries) and focus on quality over quantity, rather than adding to the noise

• As platforms are becoming more like closed ecosystems rather than gateways, we should also consider our website metrics such as referral traffic

• We need to optimise our websites and content for AI visibility (for example clear, structured content, FAQ formats, query-based content e.g. “How to…”, problem-solving hooks, explainers)

• We need to keep investing in our email marketing, and be ruthlessly relevant and valuable  

• And as ever, we need to build on our reputations and credibility as trusted organisations.

I’d encourage anyone with an interest in marketing and comms, consumer trends and/or audience behaviour to read the full report, published 2 April 2026.