While viewing on SVOD services continues to grow in the UK, overall at-home video viewing declined last year, according to the latest Media Nations report from Ofcom, while younger audiences are “reaching saturation” in streaming consumption.
The findings are set against a backdrop of rising competition from social media, and plateuing penetration of SVOD services in UK households. Citing Barb data, the report found that the proportion of UK households with an SVOD service in Q1 2026 (70 percent) was only two percentage points higher than it was in 2021.
That said, viewing time on SVOD and AVOD services increased by 3 minutes per person per day in 2025 on a year-on-year basis, primarily driven by the increased consumption of drama content, particularly among older audiences. For consumers aged 75+, total in-home video viewing has increased by 33 daily average viewing minutes since 2022.
But for most other age groups, declines in live TV viewing have pulled total in-home video viewing into negative territory over the past four years, despite growth in consumption of streaming services and video-sharing platforms (VSP).
For younger viewers, viewing time has come under pressure from social media, gaming and other online entertainment, with social media the most prevalent media activity among consumers aged 16-24. According to IPA TouchPoints data, 96 percent of the age group uses social media at least monthly, followed by streamed music (88 percent), VOD (84 percent) and gaming (74 percent).
This resulted in an overall decline in total video viewing time among younger audiences. Children watched five fewer hours of entertainment content in 2025 than in 2024, according to the research, while viewing among 16-34 year-olds fell by three hours.
Generation games
In total, in-home video viewing across all devices dropped by 7 minutes YoY, averaging 4 hours 23 minutes per person per day. The report noted that the decline partly reflects higher sports viewing in 2024, driven by the men’s UEFA European Football Championship and the Paris Olympics. But the fall also continues the ongoing decline of linear TV, which recorded its steepest annual decline (12 percent) in recent years, reaching 1 hour and 51 minutes per day.
And despite BVOD viewing rising by 9 percent YoY, now reaching 28 minutes per person per day, the drop in linear TV led to overall viewing to broadcaster TV content falling 8 percent YoY. As a result, broadcaster content’s share of all in-home video viewing slipped by 3 percent YoY, but continued to account for more than half of all in-home viewing at 53 percent.
The report added that “generational differences in TV viewing habits remain clear, with those under the age of 35 continuing to favour SVOD/AVOD and VSP content over traditional broadcaster TV, and older audiences consuming mainly broadcaster content.”
Among 16-34 year-olds, YouTube accounted for 23 percent of in-home video viewing last year, compared with 15 percent among all viewers. Interestingly though, the 16-24 age group were the only demographic to experience a decline in weekly reach for YouTube last year, when it fell for the second year running.
Meanwhile SVOD/AVOD services accounted for around 16 percent of total viewing, with Netflix making up 9 percent of viewing time in 2025. According to Barb, Netflix is now present in 61 percent of UK households, followed by Amazon Prime Video (46 percent) and Disney+ (26 percent). The proportion of Netflix and Disney+ subscribers on the streaming services’ respective ad tiers both stood at 43 percent in Q1 2026.
Aggregation and collaboration
The report found that the expansion of hybrid monetisation models among SVOD services, including ad-supported tiers and bundled offerings, helped drive SVOD revenues up 18 percent YoY, hitting £5.17 billion in 2025. This suggests that advertising is boosting SVOD revenues even as subscription levels plateau, while bundling third-party streaming services is also benefiting pay-TV businesses such as Sky.
“The subscription market continues to be shaped by aggregation; service bundling is becoming more prominent as platforms respond to consumer demand for simpler access to multiple services,” said the report. “Sky has expanded its bundled offering to bring together several streaming services, including Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and Hayu, within a single subscription, positioning SVOD aggregation as a central part of its proposition.”
But for the commercial broadcasters, revenues fell by 3 percent YoY, from £4.98 billion to £4.83 billion. The reported attributed the decline to “ongoing structural pressures on the linear advertising market, including shifts in audiovisual advertising spend and increasing audience fragmentation, alongside wider economic conditions affecting advertising budgets.” However, advertising losses were partially offset by BVOD revenues, which increased 9 percent YoY to £1.15 billion.
Ofcom also noted increasing levels of collaboration between broadcasters (such as Channel 4’s integration of UKTV’s U into its streaming service), as well as partnerships with third-party platforms. Last year saw Channel 4 announce a deal to bring video content to Spotify, while Channel 4 and ITV both distribute full-length content on YouTube. The report said these strategies can help create “additional monetisation opportunities for content beyond its initial release window.”
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