Subscription streaming services and video-sharing platforms continue to challenge traditional broadcast TV, with live TV viewership steadily declining. Despite this shift, certain factors still draw UK viewers to live or scheduled TV. Key motivators include the opportunity to discuss shows with family and friends or to follow live events.
The popularity of social media platforms for TV/video consumption, particularly among 16-24 year olds, continues to threaten broadcasters, especially as half of this age group expects to spend more time watching TV in the future. They also prefer watching videos from content creators on social media over traditional TV shows, creating opportunities for broadcasters to partner with content creators and leverage social media platforms.
Broadcasters and TV producers can boost viewer engagement by addressing the demand for supplementary content around TV shows. 40% of viewers actively seek extra content related to the shows they watch, including behind-the-scenes footage, exclusive cast interviews, podcasts, interactive features tied to show themes or bonus content on social media. These extras can deepen audience involvement, extend engagement and foster loyalty. By adapting to these preferences, traditional broadcasters can remain relevant in an increasingly digital landscape.
This report looks at the following areas:
- Trends in TV/video viewing habits, including services used and frequency of watching live/scheduled TV versus on-demand
- Factors influencing TV show choice, including opportunities to offer mood-based recommendations to enhance the viewers’ experience
- Key drivers that encourage live/scheduled TV viewing, with a focus on social interactions
- TV viewing preferences, including how viewers like to watch shows
- Behaviours of TV viewers, including interest in additional content about TV shows and opportunities to target ambient TV viewers
Viewers seek additional content about the TV shows they love, highlighting an opportunity for broadcasters and producers to build an ecosystem of supplementary content.
Yogita Burke, Cross-category Research Analyst
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Opportunities
- Mood heavily influences viewing choices
- Aid content discovery with mood-based recommendations and browsing features
- Encourage social connections through TV
- Boost engagement with additional TV show content
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Time spent watching broadcast TV continues to fall
- Graph 1: average minutes per day of total broadcast TV viewing, by age group, 2016-23
- Subscription streaming services dominate TV viewing
- Graph 2: services used to watch video or TV content in the last three months, 2025
- What consumers want and why
- Genre preferences drive viewing choices
- Graph 3: factors that influence TV show viewership, 2025
- Live TV is a shared experience
- Graph 4: factors that influence live/scheduled TV viewership, 2025
- Help live/scheduled TV viewers discover content effortlessly
- Cater to ambient TV viewers
- Create additional content about TV shows for families with young children
- Graph 5: viewers who seek additional content about TV shows viewed, by age of children in the household, 2025
- Innovation and marketing
- ITV taps into digital content creators to promote its brand and shows
- TV shows are creating an ecosystem of related content
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MARKET DYNAMICS
- Market background
- Subscription streaming services are most popular way to watch video or TV content
- Graph 6: services used to watch video or TV content in the last three months, 2025
- Two in three 16-24 year olds watch social media videos
- Graph 7: services used to watch video or TV content in the last three months, by age group, 2025
- Young viewers watch more TV shows on their smartphone/tablet than on TV
- Graph 8: agreement with watching more TV shows on the smartphone/tablet than on TV, by age group, 2025
- Time spent watching broadcast TV continues to fall
- Graph 9: average minutes per day of total broadcast TV viewing, by age group, 2016-23
- Consumers are still tuning in to live/scheduled TV…
- Graph 10: viewership of live/scheduled and on-demand TV in a typical week, by frequency, 2025
- …but time spent watching live broadcast TV has declined
- Graph 11: minutes per adult per day of total video viewing, by platform, 2022-23
- On-demand viewing is popular among older 55-64-year olds…
- Graph 12: frequency of viewing live/scheduled TV in a typical week, by age group, 2025
- Graph 13: frequency of viewing on-demand TV in a typical week, by age group, 2025
- …while over-65s prefer live/scheduled TV
- Social, environmental and legal factors
- UK independent film industry receives increased tax relief…
- …but Culture, Media and Sport Committee requests more support for the industry
- Online Safety Act will protect social media viewers
- Macroeconomic factors
- Video streaming services are an essential for many despite stubborn inflation
- Graph 14: CPI inflation rate, 2021-25
- Financial wellbeing is steady, but a crisis mindset lingers
- Graph 15: the financial wellbeing index, 2016-25
- Consumer confidence for the year ahead has settled
- Graph 16: the financial confidence index, 2016-25
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- Factors influencing TV show choice
- Genre is the key factor influencing viewing choice
- Graph 17: factors that influence TV show viewership, 2025
- Family and friend recommendations influence two in five viewers
- Social media trends influence younger generations’ viewing choices
- Tap into social media to engage younger generations
- Recent release dates are rarely the primary factor influencing viewers
- Promote genre- and mood-based recommendations to boost engagement
- Factors influencing live/scheduled TV viewing
- Live TV fosters social connections and sparks discovery
- Conversations drive young adults towards live/scheduled TV
- Graph 18: discussion factors that influence live/scheduled TV viewership, by age group, 2025
- Live events are key for engaging male viewers
- Live events can be key for streaming platforms to win over audiences
- Families with young children cherish shared entertainment experiences
- Graph 19: watching live/scheduled TV to interact with the show, by age of children in household, 2025
- Help live/scheduled TV viewers discover content effortlessly
- Graph 20: viewers who watch live/scheduled TV for TV show discovery, by daily viewing of live/scheduled and on-demand TV, 2025
- TV viewing preferences
- Newness is preferred
- Preference for new TV shows increases with age
- Graph 21: preference for watching new versus rewatching TV shows, by age group, 2025
- Strike a balance between new TV content and classic favourites
- Viewers like a combination of binge-watching and viewing TV shows over time
- Graph 22: preference for binge-watching TV shows versus viewing over time, 2025
- Over half of viewers favour solo viewing
- Graph 23: preference for solo versus group TV viewing, 2025
- Younger generations are more adventurous viewers
- Graph 24: preference for UK versus international TV shows, by generation, 2025
- TV viewing behaviours
- Multitasking while watching TV is common
- Graph 25: TV/video viewing behaviours, 2025
- 16-34 year olds are the main ambient TV viewers
- Graph 26: agreement with liking to work/study with a TV show on in the background, by age group, 2025
- Opportunities to target ambient TV viewers
- Households with children under 18 seek additional TV show content
- Use AI to create additional content for young families
- Leverage social media to offer additional TV show content
- Build an ecosystem of additional content around TV spin-offs
- Young adults prefer dubbed foreign language productions over subtitled ones
- Cater to young adults’ multitasking habits
- Netflix launches multilingual feature
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INNOVATION AND MARKETING TRENDS
- Competitive strategies
- Channel 5 and My5 relaunch as 5
- ITV taps into digital content creators to promote its brand and shows
- ITV partners with YouTube
- Channel 4 unveils ‘Fast Forward’ strategy to accelerate digital transformation
- Freely expands its reach and free content
- Launch activity and innovation
- Channel 4 launches Un-algorithmy algorithm feature
- Eastender fans influence major storyline ending
- Baller League debuts in UK
- Brands expand their content offering around popular TV shows
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APPENDIX
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Market definition continued
- Abbreviations and terms
- Consumer research methodology
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