Mothership continues to be the most widely-used online news source in Singapore, sharing the top spot with CNA.

According to the 2024 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, Mothership and CNA came in joint first for weekly use, at 46 per cent.

However, more survey respondents (32 per cent) accessed CNA at least three days a week as compared to Mothership (30 per cent).

The Straits Times (ST) took the third spot with 41 per cent.

Mothership came in first in 2023, with 48 per cent of survey respondents accessing it at least once a week.

Compared to 2023

Compared to 2023, Mothership's weekly use among survey respondents dropped by two per cent from 48 per cent to 46 per cent.

CNA's remained steady at 46 per cent, while ST's dropped from 42 per cent to 41 per cent.

Survey respondents' weekly use of many digital-only sites also fell, such as TODAY (19 per cent from 21 per cent), Mustsharenews (13 per cent from 15 per cent), and AsiaOne (11 per cent from 19 per cent).

The Business Times, however, emerged from not being ranked on the list of online news sources in 2023 to having weekly use of seven per cent.

The Straits Times highest in TV, print and radio

ST took the first spot for weekly offline use, which covers print, TV and radio, with 36 per cent.

MediaCorp took the next three spots, with CNA at 33 per cent, Channel 5 News at 25 per cent and Channel 8 News at 23 per cent.

American network CNN rounded out the top five with 13 per cent.

"Online and social media remain the most common ways of accessing news in Singapore, while both TV and print have declined significantly over the last few years," the report stated.

The report also said 14 per cent of respondents said they paid for online news.

CNA leads in brand trust

CNA and ST took the top two spots for brand trust scores, out of a non-exhaustive list of media outlets in Singapore.

CNA scored 74 per cent, while ST scored 73 per cent.

MediaCorp's Channel 5 News came in third with 71 per cent.

Mothership's brand trust increased from 52 per cent in 2023 to 55 per cent this year, scoring slightly higher than Yahoo News (53 per cent).

The report noted that overall trust in the news remains stable at 47 per cent.

"Alternative and independent outlets tend to be smaller and younger than legacy media organisations, and therefore many of them tend to be less well known. Scores should be seen in that context and not as a measure of the quality or trustworthiness of the content."

"We are encouraged by the Reuters Institute report, in which Mothership was surveyed to be the most-used online news source in Singapore for the second year running. This year, we are tied with CNA," Mothership's Managing Editor Martino Tan said.

He expressed gratitude for the support from audiences and partners, despite 2023 having been very challenging.

"Even as we continue to mend from last year’s setbacks, we are thankful to be able to be at the forefront of important news events this year, including that of Singapore’s leadership transition, as well as on entertainment events such as Taylor Swift’s concerts."

Tan also noted that trust in Mothership as a news brand has risen, along with overall trust in the local news sector.

"We will continue to improve our work, to grow trust in the news ecosystem in Singapore. Most importantly, we will work hard to strengthen our connection with our younger audiences, to become their media of choice for news, current affairs, and entertainment," he said.

Report methodology

Research for the report was conducted by YouGov using an online questionnaire at the end of January and the beginning of February 2024.

This was done in a variety of different countries across the world, in Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Asia Pacific.

For Singapore in particular, the survey's sample size was 2,013.

Singapore has a population of 5.9 million and internet penetration of 92 per cent, according to the report.

Top photos from Mothership and Canva