Netflix Ties the BBC as UK's First Choice, Ofcom Finds

The headline: streaming and the BBC now level

Ofcom's annual Media Nations report, published on 29 July, captures the moment the UK's viewing habits reached a genuine tipping point: asked which service they usually turn to first when looking for something to watch, 26% of viewers named Netflix and 25% the BBC, a one-point gap Ofcom itself says is not statistically significant and should be treated as level. ITV sits third at 15%. The finding crystallises years of drift rather than a sudden shift: 70% of people in the UK still watched content from traditional broadcasters for at least 15 minutes in an average week last year, but that figure has fallen steadily from 73% in 2024 and 78% in 2022, with declines across every age group including the over-75s. The resilience story sits alongside the decline: viewing of broadcaster-owned on-demand services, BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 Streaming and 5, grew 9% year on year, making them the fastest-growing category of television, and public service broadcasters delivered more than 30,000 hours of first-run UK-originated content in 2025. The battle, as Ofcom's strategy director frames it, is for attention in a market of incredible choice, and the broadcasters' weapon remains the big national moment.

What households are actually paying

The number in the report with the most direct consumer consequence is the revenue line. Pay-TV and subscription video-on-demand revenues grew by more than £1 billion to £11.4 billion in 2025, while the share of UK households holding at least one streaming subscription plateaued at 70%, up only two percentage points since 2022. The arithmetic is unavoidable: with subscriber numbers standing still, that growth came almost entirely from price increases and bundled offerings, meaning the average subscribing household is paying materially more than it did for broadly the same access. Streaming platforms have simultaneously built advertising into cheaper tiers, diversifying their revenue while giving households a trade-off between price and ad-free viewing. The practical response for a household reviewing its outgoings writes itself from the data: audit which subscriptions are actually watched, remember that the fastest-growing services in the country, the broadcasters' on-demand platforms, are free with a TV licence, consider ad-supported tiers where the saving outweighs the interruption, and rotate paid services around what you actually want to watch rather than holding all of them permanently. Revenue growth built on price rises is, from the other side of the ledger, a bill that grew without being asked.

YouTube's living room takeover and the audio picture

The report's structural story is YouTube's migration from phones to the biggest screen in the house. Average daily YouTube viewing on TV sets has doubled since 2022, from 9 to 19 minutes per person, with total YouTube viewing across home devices rising to 41 minutes a day, and the growth is increasingly grey: weekly reach among the over-75s rose from 28% in 2022 to 33% in 2025, even as viewing among 16 to 24 year olds declined for a second consecutive year. Children aged 4 to 15 remain the platform's largest audience. The broadcasters have chosen partnership over resistance, with Channel 4 and ITV distributing full-length programmes on YouTube under commercial arrangements and the BBC expanding platform-first commissions aimed at younger viewers. Audio, meanwhile, quietly remains the UK's highest-reaching media sector: 93% of adults listen to some form of audio content every week and 87% to live radio, while podcasts have grown from 7% weekly reach a decade ago to 27% of adults now, with news and current affairs the most popular genre overall and in-car listening now accounting for a quarter of all radio time, up from a fifth in 2022.

The moments that still unite the country

For all the fragmentation, the report's most striking evidence concerns what has not changed: the capacity of live television to assemble the country in one place. England's World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina on 15 July drew a peak audience of 24 million across BBC platforms, one of the biggest television moments in years, and 85% of all sports viewing in 2025 was watched live. The BBC has claimed eight of the ten most-watched programmes of 2026 so far, more than half of them dramas, and the Celebrity Traitors finale averaged 14.8 million viewers across BBC One and iPlayer, the corporation's biggest title of 2025, even as Netflix took the top two most-watched programmes of that year overall. Seven in ten users of public service broadcasters report being satisfied with them, with UK-made programming their most valued attribute. The election finding underlines the same point from a civic angle: across areas that held elections this year, 62% of people aware of them saw television news coverage against roughly a third who saw anything online. The full Media Nations 2026 report and the separate nations reports for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are on Ofcom's website, linked in the sources below. Related: our money guides, bills section, comparison guides and the latest UK news.

Frequently asked questions

What service do UK viewers turn to first?

Ofcom found 26% turn to Netflix first and 25% to the BBC, a gap Ofcom says is not statistically significant, with ITV third at 15%.

Why are streaming bills rising if subscriber numbers are flat?

Pay-TV and streaming revenue grew over £1 billion to £11.4 billion in 2025 while household subscription rates plateaued at 70%, so growth came from price increases and bundling rather than new customers.

How much YouTube do people watch on their TVs?

An average of 19 minutes per person per day on TV sets, double the 9 minutes of 2022, with total home YouTube viewing at 41 minutes daily across devices.

How popular are podcasts in the UK now?

27% of adults listen to a podcast each week, up from 7% a decade ago. News and current affairs is the most popular genre overall, and 13% of over-65s now listen.

Is live TV still relevant?

For big moments, emphatically. England's World Cup semi-final drew a 24 million peak audience, 85% of sports viewing in 2025 was live, and 62% of people aware of this year's elections saw TV coverage of them.