BBC One had the greatest weekly reach among the BBC's television services in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024. All channels in the ranking experienced a decline in audience reach over the past years. The BBC celebrates its 100th birthday and enters a period of uncertainty The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the public broadcasting service of the United Kingdom and the oldest broadcasting organization worldwide. It was established in London on October 18, 1922, but after an entire century on air, the BBC now enters an uncertain future in terms of funding. Around 70 percent of the BBC's annual income is generated via license fees, but as the government announced the termination of this tax by 2027, the BBC will have to explore new avenues to stay afloat. So what will the future hold for the BBC and its programming now that consumers will no longer be required to pay the annual fee? Sources speculate that funding alternatives could include a subscription service, part-privatization, or direct government funding. The portfolio goes with the (digital) flow The BBC operates several television channels in the UK and worldwide, including the news-only channel BBC News and the politics-centered BBC Parliament. As of 2024, BBC One remained the company's flagship service, and data showed that the lion's share of the BBC's total television programming spending was allocated towards BBC One content that year. In addition to offering cross-genre television and radio broadcasts, the corporation keeps expanding its range of online services to resonate with audiences in the UK and abroad. The BBC runs a designated news platform alongside the on-demand video streaming platform BBC iPlayer.

Entertainment was the genre with the largest share of the television viewing audience in 2019, making it the most popular genre in the United Kingdom. After Entertainment, Documentaries and Drama both had the next biggest shares with close to 16 percent of the TV viewing audience for both.

Are you not entertained?

It is hardly surprising then, that there are more Entertainment channels available in the United Kingdom than any other channel genre. In 2018, there were 105 established Entertainment channels in the UK. The genre with the second highest number of channels was Sport, even though Sport as a genre only had a seven percent share of the TV viewing audience. 

Top channels and top TV

The TV channel with the most reach in the UK, as of Q2 2019, was BBC 1 with 55.2 million. Channel 4 had a reach of 50.4 million, and then came BBC 2 with 49.9. The most popular TV show of all time in the UK was, as of September 2019, the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

Home of the British Grand Prix, the Formula One grand prix at Silverstone unsurprisingly drew a large average live television audience in the United Kingdom. Just under 3.48 million UK viewers tuned in to watch the race at Silverstone in 2021, which was broadcast both on Sky Sports and Channel 4.

Introduction

Reality TV Statistics: Many people guilty pleasure themselves with reality TV shows. Some watch them for the drama or to escape their issues, while others feel a real connection with the stars. No matter the reason, reality TV is very popular, and many know about famous figures like Kim Kardashian. Plus, reality TV has a strong influence. We’ve gathered key reality TV statistics, such as the percentage of reality TV shows and the money reality stars earn.

Surprisingly, reality TV has been around since 1948, even though it became popular in the 2000s. This will help you see how common reality TV is, what people think about it, and its impact on society. It took a lot of effort, but it's worthwhile.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the highest-ranked show in the United Kingdom was "The Martin Lewis Money Show" with a 67 percent popularity rating, followed by "Planet Earth II" and "The Simpsons" both with a 65 and 64 percent, respectively.

In 2024, the final episode of “Gavin & Stacey” achieved a remarkable viewership of 19.11 million, surpassing the previous year's “King's Coronation Service,” which had 18.96 million viewers. The most viewed program in the past two decades remains “The Queen's Funeral Service” from 2022, with an impressive 26.5 million viewers. UK audiences spend the most time watching TV According to data from 2023, consumers spent the most time watching live television each day compared to any other audiovisual content such as video sharing and streaming platforms. This amounted to an average of nearly 110 minutes daily per individual. Comparatively, only an average of 38 minutes per day was spent on subscription-based and ad-supported video streaming. Drop in advertising Television advertising spending, including broadcaster video-on-demand, in the UK has seen a general decline since 2017, despite a recovery in 2021 and 2022 as a result of advertisers reacting to the removal of pandemic-related restrictions. Following that, the sector will likely slightly increase in 2024, with a 0.9 percent growth.

This statistic shows the number of television viewers of the English Premier League from the 2010/11 season to the 2016/17* season, by broadcaster. After starting this period with three times the TV audience of rivals BT, Sky's share of the Premier League's viewership has fallen in the past years, to end the period with 0.9 million viewers compared to BT's 0.6 million.

As of the third quarter of 2019, BBC 1 had a reach of roughly 55 million viewers. The BBC’s channels one and two both had the highest reaches among all BBC channels, with the broadcasting network’s least popular channel being BBC Parliament. The highest reaching commercial channel as of the third quarter of 2019 was Channel 4. In 2017, the BBC had the highest audience share of any broadcaster in the UK. In total there were over 460 TV channels available in the UK as of December 2018.

TV audiences

UK adults aged over 65 years watched on average almost six hours of television per day, more than three times as much viewed by those aged between 16 and 24 years. The total average time spent watching television in the UK has actually fallen between 2011 and 2017. The favorite genres of the British public include drama, entertainment and documentaries.

Video on demand

With the digital revolution came the rise of video on demand services. The United Kingdom alone had approximately 600 legal video on-demand services available to consumers. As of the third quarter of 2018, the UK Apple iOS app had more than half a billion minutes of viewable content available to stream.

As of October 2024, the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 were the top three leading TV broadcasters in the United Kingdom (UK). In this regard, the BBC held an audience share of about ** percent. ITV and Channel 4 had audience shares of ** and **** percent, respectively. BBC One viewing BBC One was the most popular TV channel in the UK in 2023/2024, with about ** percent of the population using the service at least once a week. The audience spent on average ***** hours weekly watching the BBC’s leading channel.   BBC finances The BBC relies on the television license as its main means of funding. In 2024, the BBC generated **** million British pounds in revenue, most of which was attributed to the license fees paid by UK households. That same year, BBC One accounted for most of the BBC’s television programming spend, with costs exceeding *** billion British pounds. In addition, the BBC had to incur an overall cost of *** pence per user hour to deliver TV services through its main channels in 2023/2024.

The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) is a longitudinal birth cohort study, following a nationally representative sample of over 17,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week of 1970. Cohort members have been surveyed throughout their childhood and adult lives, mapping their individual trajectories and creating a unique resource for researchers. It is one of very few longitudinal studies following people of this generation anywhere in the world.

Since 1970, cohort members have been surveyed at ages 5, 10, 16, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, 46, and 51. Featuring a range of objective measures and rich self-reported data, BCS70 covers an incredible amount of ground and can be used in research on many topics. Evidence from BCS70 has illuminated important issues for our society across five decades. Key findings include how reading for pleasure matters for children's cognitive development, why grammar schools have not reduced social inequalities, and how childhood experiences can impact on mental health in mid-life. Every day researchers from across the scientific community are using this important study to make new connections and discoveries.

BCS70 is run by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), a research centre in the UCL Institute of Education, which is part of University College London. The content of BCS70 studies, including questions, topics and variables can be explored via the CLOSER Discovery website.

How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from a range of longitudinal surveys:
For information on how to access biomedical data from BCS70 that are not held at the UKDS, see the CLS Genetic data and biological samples webpage.

Secure Access datasets
Secure Access versions of BCS70 have more restrictive access conditions than versions available under the standard End User Licence (EUL).

The 1970 British Cohort Study: Age 16, Sweep 4 Leisure and Television Diaries, 1986 study was part of the BCS70 Age 16 follow-up survey known as 'Youthscan', available at the UK Data Archive under SN 3535, where respondents completed two diaries; one of leisure activities, and the other of television viewing, over a consecutive four-day period (Friday-Monday).

Of the 11,622 cohort members who completed one or more sections of the 16-year Youthscan study, 7,243 (62 per cent) attempted to complete a leisure diary. Some only managed two or three of the four days. Others left parts of the diary blank or provided entries that were illegible. 75 per cent of the diaries were collected between June and September, July being the most frequent month.

6,946 cohort members completed a television diary over the relevant four-day period.

The leisure and television diary data have not hitherto been available for analysis.

During 2020, rugby world cup games including England accounted for the top two public service broadcasted sports events in the UK. The most watched game was the Six Nations Championship match England against Wales, which hit a peak audience of almost *** million individuals on ITV. Most watched by channel ITV's most viewed program in 2019 was I’m a Celebrity with approximately **** million viewers while Channel 4’s most viewed program, the Great British Bake Off (October 29, 2019) had slightly more than ** million viewers. The popular baking show made up four of the top ten most viewed shows on Channel 4 during 2019. Broadcasters In 2018, the BBC had the highest audience market share of any broadcaster in the UK. It held nearly ** percent of the market share, more than ITV's ** percent and Channel 4's ** percent. Its channel BBC 1 reached almost ********** viewers in the third quarter of 2019, making it the highest-ranking channel in that period.

The Men's 2025 Six Nations Championship regularly attracted TV audiences in the United Kingdom that reached into the millions. That year's match with the largest viewership was England against France, with 4.57 million viewers. During the match, England beat eventual champions France in the latter's only loss of the series.

This statistic shows the most-watched Channel 5 programs in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020, ranked by viewing audience. During the period of consideration, All Creatures Great And Small airing on September 1, 2020 had an audience of nearly 5.4 million individuals.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the most popular TV channels and video streaming services in the United Kingdom were Channel 4 and ITV, with ** percent of respondents giving a positive rating for these platforms. Netflix ranked as the third most popular TV channel, followed by BBC One.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Television : the Public's View annual survey series was started in 1992, to help the Independent Television Commission (ITC - then regulator of commercial television in the UK) to collect data on the public's attitudes to television, in order to fulfil its obligations to conduct research as enshrined in the 1990 Broadcasting Act. During 2003, the ITC, Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) and the Radio Authority (RA) merged to form Ofcom, who are now responsible for the surveys. To reflect the inclusion of the RA within Ofcom and the advent of new broadcasting technologies, the most recent years of the survey now also include information on radio programmes, and the internet.

The surveys comprise the results of interviews with members of the general public in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, conducted face-to-face in their homes, using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing) technology. The main objectives of the survey include monitoring trends in the following over time: