Media Consumption Pathways and Trust

DCMS is seeking to commission a two-phase research project to investigate UK media consumption habits and public trust in media. Phase 1 would consist of a behavioural cohort study (or another appropriate methodology) to map the specific "user pathways" audiences take to find, consume, and value information across different media sources, such as traditional news broadcasts and social media, across different demographics. Building on these findings, Phase 2 would explore how individuals perceive trust in different media sources due to their own perception of mis/disinformation, assess the broader effects of these consumption pathways on factors such as viewer retention and wider social cohesion, as well as overall integrity of the UK's information ecosystem. This project will be commissioned either through a Competitive Flexible Procedure under the Procurement Act 2023, or through the RM6126 Research and Insights framework. This is part of the DCMS Science and Analysis R&D Programme, which supports R&D capability within the department. This project will run concurrently alongside three other large projects across 2027-2030; these include 'what works' research into AI adoption in DCMS sectors; a continuation of previous research to develop data-intensive approaches for capturing engagement at unticketed cultural, heritage, and sporting events/activities/locations, e.g. using mobile app data to model how people participate in our events; and a continuation of previous research to design and improve methods for holistically tracking the long-term impact of major events, tested on a major event.

Category: services

• Procurement method: Competitive flexible procedure
• Briefing session: Not captured. Check the original notice before relying on this.
• Eligibility and evaluation: set out in the tender documents. Check mandatory returnables, registrations and scoring before you commit.

• Notice documentOpen (opens the source site)

Published

08 Oct 2026

First seen by Atlas

09 Oct 2026

Briefing session

Not captured. Check the original notice before relying on this.

Submission deadline

Not stated

Estimated value

£1.5m

Contract type

Competitive flexible procedure

Category

services

Source

UK Find a Tender

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