In the United Kingdom, in the third quarter of 2019, Sky news had roughly 12.6 million viewers. This is more or less stable and in line with figures from other quarters over the last year. However, it is a significantly lower number of viewers compared to figures from the start of the decade. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Sky news had almost 18.8 million viewers.

TV news competitors

Sky news isn’t the only news channel with decreasing numbers of viewers. BBC news has also seen a fall in viewing figures over the last decade. Although, they are still outperforming Sky news, with over 18 million viewers a quarter.

The Sky news story

Sky News is a relatively new news broadcast network, which was first released in 1989 under the Fox Network. The network is broadcast worldwide apart from in New Zealand and Australia. It provides information to its customers through a variety of medium such as mobile and internet broadcasts. The slogan for the network is 'First for breaking news'.

The TV news channel with the highest reach in the United Kingdom in 2019 was BBC News. With **** million viewers reached in the *********************, BBC News outperformed Sky News by *** million. Behind these two main news channels came Sky Sports News, which had a reach of *** million in the same period.

TV news - the big picture

News was only the sixth most popular television genre in the UK in 2019, with entertainment taking the top spot. This could explain why out of the leading 20 TV channels in terms of reach in the UK in 2019, none of them were dedicated to news.

Online news brands

With so much news being consumed online these days, it is also worth finding out what the leading online news brands are in the UK. As of February 2019, BBC News online was accessed by ** percent of all respondents in an online survey.

This statistic ranks digital news websites and news apps by perceived importance in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2013 and 2014. Twitter ranked first in 2013, with 69 percent of respondents. In 2014, the Sky News website or app ranked first in terms of importance, with 62 percent of respondents rating the source highly important.

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Following the switch to digital TV, the TV programming industry now has thousands of channels and is dominated by subscription packages. TV broadcasters have benefitted from the lower cost of operating channels online, though streaming services have intensified competition. The spread of channels across multiple platforms has offset a drop in ad spending on TV in the UK, which has weighed on the industry's revenue. With the proliferation of streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, traditional broadcasters are feeling the heat. However, live TV and bundling TV with other services, like broadband, have supported subscription revenue. Revenue is projected to have fallen at a compound annual rate of 1.8% over the five years through 2025-26 to £10.7 billion. This is because the industry relies on linear advertising revenue and broadcast TV viewership, which have both taken a nosedive. Though major sports events have boosted the number of TV advertising slots, revenue is set to drop by 1.9% in 2025-26. More consumers are turning to streaming platforms for news and entertainment instead of traditional TV broadcasts. Even older viewers, once the bastion of traditional TV, are shifting towards streaming services, signalling an urgent need for broadcasters to innovate or risk fading into obscurity. Intense competition from streaming platforms has weighed on ad spending and dented profit over the five years through 2025-26. Over the five years through 2030-31, revenue is forecast to dip at a compound annual rate of 1.5% to £9.9 billion. Revenue growth from subscription services and a jump in the TV Licence fee will boost sales for now. However, with the planned abolition of the fee in 2027, public-funded broadcasters like the BBC will need to find alternative funding sources, introducing uncertainty into their future outlook. Second-screen engagement and internet-connected smart TVs will alter viewing experiences in the coming years, with advanced TV programmes and broadcasting technologies likely to emerge following the trend. However, as subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix incorporate more advertisements into their platforms, traditional TV broadcasters could lose advertising revenue. Netflix subscriptions for its ad-supported tier have trended upwards, and this trend could encourage companies and advertising agencies to move their advertising budget from traditional TV broadcasters to SVOD platforms in the coming years.

This statistic displays the share of regular viewers who agreed that the following news programs were independent from the government in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2014 and 2018. In 2018, ** percent of respondents agreed that Sky News was independent from the government.

Bundesliga games resumed on May 16, 2020 after a break of over two months due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Matches took place without viewers. That day, 3.68 million TV viewers aged three years and older watched Sky Sport Bundesliga and Sky Sport News HD at 3:30 in the afternoon. One week later the reach was already lower at 3.08 million viewers.

Ubisoft Forward is an annual gaming showcase event by French gaming publisher Ubisoft. The June 2024 edition of the event had 1.07 million peak viewers. Ubisoft Forward 2024 included news on the upcoming titles of the publisher's major franchises, Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin's Creed Shadows. The event also featured information on the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake, the Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora — The Sky Breaker DLC, as well as the reveal of Anno 117: Pax Romana. In June 2025, the company announced that there was not going to be an Ubisoft Forward event for the year.