A recent survey revealed UK adults spent nearly a third of their waking hours watching TV and online video content in 2020. A daily average of almost 6 hours was up 40 minutes from the previous year.
However YouTube remained the most popular user generated online video service, most likely due to the fact it is free to watch! Chinese-owned TikTok also gained in popularity and was being used by 31% of adult internet users by March 2021.
Yih-Choung Teh, Ofcom's group director of research, said:
"The pandemic undoubtedly turbo-charged viewing to streaming services, with three in five UK homes now signed up."
The average time spent watching traditional broadcast TV each day was just over three hours, but this was mostly driven by people aged 45 and over. Younger age groups spent far less time on linear TV, with those aged 16-24 only spending just over an hour watching broadcast content.