TV statistics: How long does the UK spend watching TV?

More than 27 million homes in the UK have a television and 19.3 million homes subscribe to some form of streaming service – but just how long are we spending in front of the TV every day? We analysed all the latest TV statistics to see how glued we are to our screens and how many people are using their bank accounts to pay for a TV licence.

Quick overview

• 27.3 million households had a TV in 2022, almost 97% of households in the UK.
• On average, Brits watch 28 hours and 18 minutes of TV and streaming content each week (just over 4 hours a day).
• This includes 18 hours and 16 minutes of broadcast TV each week (2 hours and 36 minutes a day).
• As of March 2023, 24.4 million TV licenses were in issue.
• As of September 2023, 19.3 million households (67.3%) have a subscription service such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Now.
• BBC channels are the most popular in the UK, with 51.9 million viewers reached in October 2023.
• An average of 58 million Brits have tuned into broadcast TV every month in the year to October 2023.

How many households have a TV?

27.3 million households in the UK had a TV in 2022, which is almost 97% of households in the UK. This is up slightly (0.4%) from 2021, when 27.2 million households had a TV. The number of households with a TV has been increasing year-on-year, suggesting that, despite the popularity of smartphones and tablets, people still like viewing on a television screen.

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How many people watch TV in the UK?

On average, 58 million viewers tune into broadcast TV each month, which is around 91% of all people with access to a TV or broadband.

In October 2023, 58 million people tuned into broadcast TV, 91% of the total viewing audience. This is down slightly year-on-year from October 2022, when 58.6 million people, or 92%, tuned in for some viewing.

The way we watch television has changed, however, and 19.3 million households (67.3%) have access to a streaming subscription service such as Netflix or Amazon Prime as of September 2023. This is down slightly from the same period in 2022, when 19.5 million households were subscribed to a video-on-demand service. This may be due to people cutting costs and the increasing prices of subscriptions.

How much TV does the average Brit watch?

Taking into account all formats, the average Brit spends just over 4 hours a day, or 28 hours and 18 minutes a week, watching TV and video content. This includes 2 hours and 36 minutes a day of broadcast television, or 18 hours and 16 minutes a week.

Viewing habits vary slightly from month to month, with peak viewing times around Christmas and the winter months and lower viewing times in summer when the weather is better.

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What are the most popular TV channels in the UK?

The BBC has the most popular channels in the UK, with 51.9 million viewers in October 2023. ITV comes in second place, with 46.4 viewers in total but is closely followed by Channel 4, with 45.9 million viewers.

Sky channels had a total of 37.8 million viewers in October 2023, while Channel 5 had a total of 35.6 million viewers.

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How many people have a TV licence in the UK?

As of March 2023, 24.4 million TV licences are in issue in the UK. Each license is priced at £159, apart from cases where these are funded or at a reduced fee. In the year to March 2023, £3.7 billion was generated by the TV licence fee.

Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact:

Matt Mckenna
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806

• Previous research

  Quick overview

  • 28.5 million homes in the UK have a television.
  • 25.8 million TV licences were issued in 2018/19, just 84,000 fewer than in 2017/18.
  • Of those TV licences, 6,883 were black and white TV licences, 1,359 fewer than in 2017.
  • On average, we watch over 22.5 hours of TV every week, not including streaming services such as Netflix.
  • More than 14.3 million homes subscribe to a streaming service such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or NOW.

  28.5 million

  homes in the UK have a television in 2019.

  TV ownership in the UK

  We all love to keep up to date with our favourite TV shows, but just how many homes in the UK don’t have a TV at all?

  TV ownership has been seeing a steady increase year-on-year. In 2019, more than 28.5 million of us have at least 1 TV in our home. Explore the graph below to see how TV ownership has increased over the last seven years.

  Multiple TVs

  In a modern household, owning more than one television is not unusual. We now have TVs in our bedrooms, kitchens and even bathrooms! How many households in the UK have more than one TV?

  Over 15.3 million households in the UK have more than 1 TV, while just 1.59 million don’t have a TV at all. Look at the chart below to see a detailed breakdown of the number of TVs per household.

  How long are we watching for?

  You might have been told that watching too much TV can give you square eyes, but that isn’t stopping some Brits from racking up dozens of hours of viewing time every week. We analysed just how many hours a week we spend watching TV. Bear in mind the figures below are just for television shows and catch-up services, so they don’t include anything watched on streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime.

  • The average Brit watched 22 hours and 36 minutes of TV in the second week of January 2020.
  • That is 13 minutes longer than during 2019.
  • One of the most popular weeks to spend time in front of the TV is during Christmas when the average Brit spent a whopping 25 hours and 45 minutes in front of the TV.
  • That is 189 minutes longer than in January.

  Over 22.5 hours

  of television was watched by the average Brit, per week in 2020.

  Binge-watching

  With the introduction of streaming services and catch-up TV, it is now possible to binge-watch an entire series in one sitting. So, just how often are Brits binge-watching their favourite shows? For these results, binge-watching was classified as watching more than one episode in one sitting.

  16- to 24-year-olds are the most likely to binge-watch TV shows, with 82% reporting doing it monthly, compared to just 29% of those aged 65+. A whopping 11% of 16- to 24-year-olds reported binge-watching TV every day.

  Streaming services

  Streaming services have changed the way we watch TV. Whether you stream through Netflix, Amazon Prime or NOW, more than 50% of all households now have at least 1 of the 3 streaming subscriptions. That is 14.3 million UK households, an increase of 16% since 2018. 6% have subscribed to all 3 services, and 32% have monthly subscriptions to both Netflix and Amazon Prime.

  • Over 50% of homes in the UK now have access to one of Amazon, Netflix or NOW streaming services.
  • More than 14.3 million homes in the UK have at least 1 streaming subscription in Q4 2019.
  • This is up 16% (or 2 million), from 2018.
  • Netflix is the UK’s most popular streaming service, with 12.4 million subscribers, 20% more than the year before.
  • Amazon Prime is the second biggest streaming service with 7.1 million subscribers, 35% more than 2018.
  • 6 million homes have signed up to two or more streaming services.

  32%

  of all homes that have subscribed to streaming services subscribe to both Amazon and Netflix.

  The UK’s most popular streaming services

  Netflix is by far the most popular streaming service in the UK, with more than 12.4 million subscribers at the end of 2019, an 8% increase since 2018. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime and NOW have experienced healthy growth over the year, too.

  How much are we spending?

  With so many different streaming services out there, it’s easy to end up with multiple subscriptions. So, just how much are Brits spending on streaming services?

  What are we watching?

  Which shows are capturing the imaginations of Brits? We dived into the latest statistics to see which programmes we are watching and which ones we aren’t.

  • 1: Gavin and Stacey (25 December 2019) was the most viewed programme of 2019, with over 17.92 million viewers.
  • 2: I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (17 November 2019) came second, with 13.18 million viewers.
  • 3: Strictly Come Dancing: The Final (14 December 2019) had 12.76 million viewers when it was aired and was the third most watched TV programme in 2019.

  Sources used

  • OFCOM
  • BARB
  • TV Licensing