The volume and reach of broadcast television viewing continues to decline in the United Kingdom, to an average of 2 hours 24 minutes a day, but broadcaster programming still makes up most measured in-home viewing. Of that, just 11 minutes a day is accounted for by the BBC iPlayer. Average viewing of YouTube is up to 39 minutes a day, with 18 minutes of that on television, giving it 14% of all video viewing and making it the second most viewed service after the BBC.
The annual Media Nations report from Ofcom provides an invaluable compendium of facts and figures about media usage in the United Kingdom.
The average person spent an average of 4 hours and 30 minutes a day watching video at home in 2024, which was only a minute less than the previous year. The television set remains central, accounting for 84% of all in-home video viewing.
Viewing of broadcast television continued its long-term decline, especially among young adults, with declines across all age groups other than those aged over 75.
74% of people watched broadcast television on a television each week, down 1.7% on the previous year, but the decline was less than in the previous two years.
Broadcaster programming continues to make up most measured in-home viewing, at 56%, helped by growth in online viewing of broadcaster programmes, which at an average of 25 minutes a day was for the first time higher than the time spent watching recorded playback of live channels.
Among those aged 25-34, viewing of broadcaster programming was down to just over an hour a day, of which 27 minutes was to broadcast channels, 11 minutes recorded playback, and 24 minutes online viewing. In comparison, they spent an average of 63 minutes a day watching other online video services and a further 71 minutes a day on video sharing platforms. Nearly four out of ten people in that age group did not watch any broadcaster programming in an average week.
7% of people said they did not watch any public service broadcaster programming on television sets in the first three months of 2025. They tended to be younger and less likely to have traditional television platforms.
While half of the viewing of BBC programming among those aged 16-25 was through the BBC iPlayer, they tend to watch less BBC programming anyway.
On average, people watched the BBC iPlayer for 11 minutes a day, up by a couple of minutes on the previous year, compared to 40 minutes a day of viewing broadcast BBC programming, either at the time of transmission or recorded. That meant that the BBC iPlayer made up 22% of all BBC viewing, compared to 18% the previous year.
For ITV, it was just 5 minutes a day through the ITVX player, or 15% of ITV viewing. For Channel 4 it was just 3 minutes a day, or 18% of Channel 4 viewing. However, online accounted for a quarter of broadcaster advertising revenues.
Viewing of YouTube in-home as measured by Barb grew by 13% to an average of 39 minutes a day, with 18 minutes of that viewed on a television set.
YouTube was the second most watched service, after the BBC and ahead of ITV, with Netflix leading Channel 4 and Sky.
Netflix accounted for over half of all online video subscription viewing, with an average of 22 minutes a day per individual, or 29 minutes a day for those aged 16-34.
Ofcom research found that BBC One was still the first destination when people turned on a television set, for all individuals and for those aged over 35. However, for those aged 4-15 it was YouTube and for those aged 16-34 it was Netflix.