Consumers read an average of seven news stories a day and are more news hungry during a recession

The gap between the way people consume news during the weekday and at the weekend is closing, according to figures from FD's Media Monitor research series.

Since the country moved into recession, the amount of time Britons spend news gathering during the working week has more than doubled to an average of 34 minutes a day, significantly closing the gap on the average 55 minutes committed to news consuming at the weekend.

How Britons consume news

 The average Briton now commits more daily time to news consumption than to a range of other activities, including cooking, eating, walking the dog, cleaning the house or doing DIY.

Not only are more people spending more time news gathering during the weekdays, but the character and tone of news people want to follow has changed. FD's research indicates a growing appetitie for more serious, issues-based and authentic stories during the age of austerity. The research also reveals that while the average time spent news gathering each weekday is up, the number of articles followed is down, suggesting a switch to more in-depth articles. On average, newspaper readers claimed to read seven stories in detail each day.

Guy Bellamy, creative director at FD comments: "As the nation adjusts to the economic environment, news gathering has become a more important part of the day for many people. Historically, FD's research has suggested people follow the news in very different ways during the weekday and weekend. While the weekdays have traditionally been characterised by people gathering snippets of news from a wide range of emerging and traditional media sources daily, the weekends have been a time when people's media focus narrows to print media and more in-depth news analysis. Over the last two years our research has shown that the recession has influenced people's news consumption habits on many levels, but a clear over-arching theme has been a closing of the gap between basic weekend and weekday habits."

FD's data also suggests than in the recession environment national television news has performed well. Over the last 18 months it has scored highly for viewer loyalty, trust and influence, and its broad audience reach still ensures that the evening remains the key time in the day for UK news consumption for around 40 per cent of British adults.

BackgroundThe findings are from FD's rolling media monitor research programme for clients. Over the last decade, FD has tracked the news habits of more than 30,000 people, exploring the popularity and impact of a range of media topic preferences and the tone and format of news that has lasting appeal. FD's research series is an exclusive resource for its clients, although during 2011, a number of research highlights will be shared exclusively with PRmoment.