Traditional broadcasters’ content still makes up the majority of in-home viewing, according to Ofcom’s annual report on the UK’s media habits.
Overall, people spent 4% less time watching broadcast TV in 2024 than the previous year, with average viewing dropping to 2 hours 24 minutes a day on TV sets. This trend was particularly driven by young adults (16-24), who watched just 17 minutes of live TV daily. Only 45% of this age group tuned into broadcast TV weekly, down from 48% in 2023.
Ed Leighton, Ofcom’s Interim Group Director for Strategy and Research, said: “Scheduled TV is increasingly alien to younger viewers, with YouTube the first port of call for many when they pick up the TV remote. But we’re also seeing signs that older adults are turning to the platform as part of their daily media diet too.”
YouTube is now the first-place younger viewers go as soon as they switch on. The platform is now the second most-watched service in the UK, behind the BBC and ahead of ITV.
At home, people spent 39 minutes on YouTube per day in 2024, with 16 minutes of this via the household TV set.
Over 55s are now watching nearly double the amount of YouTube content on their TVs compared to the previous year (11 minutes per day in December 2024, up from just 6 minutes in January 2023). Last year, 42% of all YouTube viewing by this age group was on a TV set (up from 33% in 2023).
At the same time YouTube content is changing and now more closely resembles traditional TV, with long form interviews, game shows, and broadcasters own content burnt by users from videos and DVDs.
Some broadcasters are also offering their own programmes on YouTube, for example ITV and Channel 4 make full length programming available on their channels, retaining control over adverts.
