PA Media's top stories in 2024
By PA Media 18/12/2024Welcome to our stats-led countdown of the top stories of 2024. With thousands of journalists from across the media spectrum accessing content via PA’s Explore platform every week, we are uniquely positioned to report on the overall biggest stories of the year in the UK.
The definition of a story might initially sound straightforward, but we had to decide whether to count every update of the Election, from “Sunak fires starting gun” to “Starmer sweeps to power” as separate stories or whether to count the Election itself as the story. In the interest of variety, we have chosen to only include one headline from each event. And so that we are not comparing apples with oranges, we have separated our stories into the main service categories found on Explore: Politics, Royal, Sport, Entertainment, Finance, and UK News.
With all of that in mind, let’s dive into the data…
POLITICS
It won’t come as much of a surprise that the General Election was the biggest event of the year on Explore, but the interest in our new government didn’t end there. Labour’s first Budget in over 14 years was not only #2 on the Politics chart, it was the second most popular event across all services. The previous government might seem like a distant memory now, but it was the news of two ministers quitting in a double blow to Rishi Sunak which was the biggest Politics story from before May’s Election announcement. Rounding out the top five are stories about the row surrounding donations to Labour and continued interest in migrant Channel crossings.
TOP 5 POLITICS STORIES OF 2024
- Starmer sweeps to power as Truss is biggest scalp in Tory bloodbath
- Reeves increases taxes by £40bn to address ‘black hole’ in public finances
- Starmer pays back more than £6,000 in gifts after donations row
- Two ministers quit in double blow to Rishi Sunak
- Record arrivals see migrant Channel crossings top 12,000 for year so far
ROYAL
2023 was a year of celebration for the royals as Charles was crowned in front of a global audience. 2024 has had a much more sombre tone, with cancer diagnoses for the King and the Princess of Wales prompting the most engagement from journalists on our Explore platform. Prior to Kate’s cancer diagnosis being made public, there were eyebrows raised when William pulled out of his godfather’s memorial service at short notice and there was hefty scrutiny of a digitally altered photo. The Sussexes took less of the limelight than in previous years, but the Duke’s High Court battles still generated plenty of interest.
TOP 5 ROYAL STORIES OF 2024
- King diagnosed with cancer, Palace announces
- Princess of Wales announces she is being treated for cancer in emotional message
- Alan Bates, Gordon Brown and Tracey Emin headline in King’s Birthday Honours
- Kate issues public apology as she takes blame for digitally altered photo
- William misses godfather’s memorial service due to personal matter
SPORT
Two major managerial departures were the biggest stories in the world of football this year, with Jurgen Klopp’s exit after almost nine years in charge of Liverpool emerging as the third most popular Sport story of the year and Gareth Southgate’s Euros swan song taking the top spot. The only event that you can be sure will compete with major football news is the Olympics. Updates from Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s heroics in the heptathlon, culminating in her first Olympic medal, generated the most interest from the actual sporting contests – but the biggest story from our reporters on the ground in Paris came from before the opening ceremony had even taken place, when Charlotte Dujardin withdrew from the games in controversial circumstances.
TOP 5 SPORT STORIES OF 2024
- Gareth Southgate steps down as England manager
- Charlotte Dujardin out of Olympics after video emerges of “error of judgment”
- Jurgen Klopp to leave Liverpool at end of season
- Christian Horner’s accuser suspended by Red Bull in wake of investigation
- Katarina Johnson-Thompson takes heptathlon silver and her first Olympic medal
ENTERTAINMENT
Last year’s biggest Entertainment story was handed over to the Law team as Huw Edwards entered the courts, but there were fresh allegations made against more BBC personalities. In July, the corporation’s director-general offered an apology amid a storm of negative reports about the culture and treatment of contestants on Strictly Come Dancing. Then, just as that story was dying down, it emerged that complaints had been made to the BBC about the conduct of MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace. PA customers always rely on us for our fast, fair, and accurate reporting of celebrity deaths, and this year it was the sudden disappearance of Michael Mosley and Liam Payne’s tragic balcony fall which generated the most engagement. The top Entertainment story was much more positive than the rest of the top five though, with excitement surrounding the long-awaited reunion of Oasis reaching fever pitch.
TOP 5 ENTERTAINMENT STORIES OF 2024
- Liam and Noel Gallagher confirm Oasis’s long-awaited reunion for 2025
- Dame Maggie Smith dies in hospital aged 89
- BBC director-general offers apology following Strictly Come Dancing allegations
- Former One Direction star Liam Payne dies aged 31 after balcony fall
- TV doctor Michael Mosley goes missing while on holiday in Greece
FINANCE
The Finance countdown begins with some rare good news about household bills, as energy costs reached their lowest point for two years. Challenging conditions on the high street continued though, as the Post Office became the latest company to announce potential job cuts and branch closures. And the Post Office makes another appearance in the top five, with former boss Paula Vennells returning her CBE over the Horizon scandal. Queen Elizabeth II became the first British sovereign to appear on a bank note in 1960, and our embargoed story with all the details about the rollout of the first notes to feature her son proved very popular. The biggest Finance story of the year fell on the technology patch, as a global IT outage highlighted the reliance of a number of major industries on the same infrastructure.
TOP 5 FINANCE STORIES OF 2024
- Global IT outage knocks airlines, banks and others offline
- Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to return CBE over Horizon scandal
- All change as King Charles banknotes enter circulation
- Post Office jobs and branches under threat amid overhaul
- Household energy bills to fall to lowest point in two years from April 1
UK NEWS
With politics and royal stories separated into their own sections, the biggest UK news story of the year proves to be the tragic attack on a dance class in Southport. The ensuing riots across the country also take their place in the list of stories which generated the most engagement from journalists on our Explore platform. The top event from PA’s comprehensive courts coverage was the case of Huw Edwards, with the trials of Constance Marten and Urfan Sharif landing just outside the top five. Weather may not initially sound like the most dramatic news topic, but whenever major storms hit, our analytics show newsrooms across the country coming to us to gather all the important information. Storm Isha at the beginning of the year was no exception.
TOP 5 UK NEWS STORIES OF 2024
- Man detained and knife seized after ‘multiple stabbings’ in Southport
- Disgraced broadcaster Huw Edwards spared jail after accessing indecent images
- Boy, 14, killed in stabbings incident as sword-wielding suspect arrested in Hainult
- Police steeled for further violence as more than 140 charged over riots
- Two dead and one seriously injured after Storm Isha blasts UK
LIFESTYLE
PA’s Lifestyle team once again delivered reams of engaging content for its diverse array of customers throughout 2024. From everyday health explainers to top style tip pieces, Lifestyle reporters went further this year using key news events like the Election to help shape feature pages with articles such as ‘What does Keir Starmer’s fashion tell us about our new prime minister?’ proving to be popular with audiences. We also witnessed the rise of ‘sportainment’ where PA’s renowned sports coverage combined with the Lifestyle team to produce sport and culture-infused content pieces with Team GB heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson taking part in an inspirational interview that transcended beyond sporting audiences – ‘I’ve learnt loads from facing low moments’.
Affiliate Content Marketing has also become a natural fit for our content, helping editorial customers enter this space, delivering quick turnaround on editorial pieces concerning the latest air fryers or cleaning gadgets in 2024, but of course with the PA commitment to accuracy and quality. The team applied all this insight and knowledge to one of their standout projects this year, the creation of a Lifestyle content-focused digital ezine. Unwrapped: Lifestyle Content Decoded provides a blueprint for creating engaging lifestyle content across multiple platforms for all content creators. Featuring lots of handy tips on all things lifestyle content, the team produced two editions of Unwrapped this year in spring and autumn, with the next issue set for March/April next year.
TOP 5 LIFESTYLE STORIES OF 2024
- Jamie Oliver’s perfect brunch recipe
- 6 ways to get well and stay well in the new year
- Frequent flyers share their best plane travel hacks
- Bridal trends: These are the wedding dress styles everyone’s talking about
- The dirtiest things in the home and how to clean them
REAL LIFE
The work PA’s Real Life writers put in to produce two human interest exclusives every weekday is nothing short of miraculous and 2024 was another spectacular year for this small talented team. Finding and signing up compelling interviewees exclusively is a task in itself, but to produce stories with genuine impact, driving so much traffic and social media interest that numerous stories reached the top of national outlets’ most-read charts, is a genuine feat. Topics covered by the team this year include shocks such as Tom Campbell’s horrifying interview with Kelly Allen, a woman who had her cheek bitten off by her friend’s sausage dog. Among numerous crime stories, Ellie Fleming earned the trust of voyeurism victim Catherine Simpson, whose twisted stepfather was jailed after he hid a camera among her teddies to film her naked.
Remarkable health stories are the team’s bread and butter and Marcin Michalec’s a perfect example, having his thumb replaced with a toe via emergency surgery after the former unfortunate digit was sawn off in a carpentry accident. Similarly, Megan Jones’ extraordinary eczema, accompanied by eye-watering pictures, was another hit for Explore customers. The service’s ‘Quirky’ section includes everything from nudists and rollercoaster testers, but it was Rikki Loftus’ interview with award-winning Harry Potter collector Victoria Maclean – whose wizarding memorabilia includes a model of Albus Dumbledore’s office which she has filled with her mother’s ashes – which made the top five.
These top stories barely scratch the surface of the hundreds of unique exclusives produced by the team this year, but I have named all of the interviewees involved because as ever it’s the humans at the heart of these tales which give them their universal appeal. Real Life’s stories in 2024 have been used by outlets across the UK and countries including the US, Australia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Norway. The success of this unique content, transformed in recent years to focus on a digital-first audience with more video and pictures than ever, is a credit to the writers who produce it.
TOP 5 REAL LIFE STORIES OF 2024
- Single mum mauled by friend’s sausage dog
- Carpenter has ‘second chance’ at career after toe-to-thumb transplant
- Student’s ‘sickening’ stepdad hides camera among teddies
- Singer’s ‘miracle’ eczema cure gives her new confidence
- Harry Potter fanatic crowned Britain’s Biggest Collector
This article is featured in PA Media’s Year in Content 2024. Click here to download.