How do British consumers entertain and inform themselves in 2025? Attest’s 8th annual Media Consumption Report examines how habits across television, audio, news, and social media continue to evolve. 

From the Millennials’ social media splurge to the Gen Z podcast boom, these trends provide a detailed breakdown of how different demographics spend their time. The data also shows what the outlook is for various media formats, as well as for the biggest media brands.   

Survey sample The data in this report comes from a nationally representative survey of 1,000 UK consumers aged 18-65. The media consumption tracker survey is conducted annually on the Attest platform during March and April.

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TV trends

Trend 1: TV viewing times stabilise  

Consumers have been watching less TV in recent years, but the trend appears to have slowed in 2025. The percentage of consumers watching three or more hours of TV (of any type) per day remains the same as last year (52%). That’s compared with 55% in 2023 and 59% in 2022. The most committed TV watchers are those aged 50-65, 63% of whom watch at least three hours a day. A far lower 44% of 18-30s, and 55% of 31-49-year-olds, watch for the same period. 

Live TV is holding firm, with a consistent 16% of Brits watching for at least three hours a day, although this is significantly below the 24% who watch streamed subscription TV for the same duration. The percentage of consumers who generally don’t watch live TV also remains static at 24%. However, this figure rises to a third of under 30s. 

Under 30s who do watch live TV are most likely to say they watch it for less than 30 minutes – by comparison, their older counterparts typically watch for 1-2 hours. Meanwhile, under 30s watch the most streamed TV, with 42% typically viewing for 1-2 hours per day and another 30% chalking up in excess of three hours. Only 4% of younger consumers typically don’t watch streaming services, but that increases to 23% for over 50s.   

Trend 2: YouTube Premium and Apple TV hit peak weekly viewers 

After suffering a -5 point decline in regular viewers last year, Netflix has managed to regain most of its losses, rising +4 points. Today, 76% of consumers say they watch Netflix at least once a week. The only other subscription TV platform to achieve +4 point growth is YouTube Premium. Sitting at 19%, YouTube Premium now enjoys its highest percentage of weekly viewers since we’ve been measuring.

Apple TV also makes gains for the third year running, with a +3 point increase in weekly viewers to 12% (this means the streamer has more than doubled its UK market share since 2022). Amazon Prime and Disney+ both see a small boost, rising to 48% and 41% respectively, while the other platforms remain more or less static.

Looking at the viewing profile of different streamers,18-30-year-olds are the top viewers of Disney+ (51%) and YouTube Premium (26%). Consumers aged 31-49 dominate Netflix (83%), Amazon Prime (50%), Virgin Media (13%) and Hayu (5%). Meanwhile, Over 50s are the biggest subscribers to Sky. 

When it comes to what Brits are watching, popular drama series include “Adolescence”, “The White Lotus”, and “Reacher” reflecting a strong interest in crime-themed shows. Classic British soaps remain favourites, with “EastEnders” and “Emmerdale” frequently mentioned, while reality shows like “Married at First Sight” are also cited often. 

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Audio trends

Trend 3: Spotify bounces back with record users

The percentage of Brits regularly using Spotify took an -5 point plunge last year, but usage has strongly rebounded by +7 points. Today, 55% of consumers tune into Spotify on a regular basis, solidifying its position as the nation’s favourite music streaming platform. 

YouTube Music has also enjoyed a boost, increasing regular users by +6 points to 31%. Both of these platforms have now exceeded their previous record number of UK users. Meanwhile, Amazon Music remains flat at 21%; it’s yet to surpass its 2022 record of 25%. Apple Music manages only a couple of points of growth (to 17%).

Spotify is the clear favourite of young consumers, used by 76% of under 30s (versus 55% of 31-49s and 34% of over 50s). YouTube Music and Amazon Music are most popular among those aged 31-49s (used by 36% and 24% respectively). In terms of reaching older consumers, 20% of over 50s use both YouTube and Amazon, but only 8% use Apple Music. 

The percentage of Brits streaming music daily sits at 35%, while a further 25% listen multiple times a week. Meanwhile, the number of consumers who never stream music has declined from 18% last year to 15% in 2025.

Consumers aged 18-30 are the most dedicated music streamers, with 59% listening daily (compared with 34% of 31-49s and only 14% of over 50s). Just over 31% of 50-65-year-olds say they don’t stream music at all – that’s versus just 2% of under 30s. 

Trend 4: Radio rivals streamed music

Video may have killed the radio star [as The Buggles famously sang], but music streaming hasn’t yet killed off listening to the radio. Although the number of daily radio listeners has fallen since we first started measuring, usage remains stable in 2025. 

The number of daily listeners sits at 35%, while a further 25% of consumers listen multiple times a week – these figures mirror those listening to streamed music, meaning radio remains just as valuable an advertising medium. 

This is especially true for reaching middle aged and older audiences: 37% of 31-49-year-olds listen to the radio daily, as do 46% of over 50s (but only 18% of under 30s listen with such regularity). Around a third of each age group listen to radio “a few times a week”. 

Digging further into the profile of regular radio listeners, we see that consumers from higher income households are more likely to listen than lower earners: 43% of those with a household income in excess of £75k listen multiple times per week/daily, compared with 31% of those earning less than £35k. So if it’s older, wealthier people you’re targeting, radio could still be a great shout. 

Trend 5: younger consumers drive podcast and audiobook consumption

Brits are listening to podcasts with greater frequency in 2025: 41% listen at least once a week, up +5 points on last year. Around 46% of under 30s and 31-49-year-olds listen weekly (compared with 28% of over 50s). But when it comes to steaming daily, it’s those aged 31-49 who do it most (17% versus 11% of under 30s and just 6% of over 50s).

Men show a preference for podcasts – with 47% listening to them weekly, versus 34% of women – as do consumers with a higher household income. Nearly 53% of consumers with a household income over £75k say they listen to podcasts multiple times a week – that’s compared to just 22% of those with a household income under £35k. 

Comedy podcasts are the most popular for listeners overall, but sport podcasts are the favourite for men: 43% of male respondents listen to sports podcasts versus only 9% of females. Health and wellbeing, and true crime are the next most-listened to genres of podcast – both favoured by women. Meanwhile, news/political podcasts (which round out the top five) are more likely to have male listeners. Older consumers also frequently seek out news and political content. 

Audiobooks also chalk up some modest growth, with the percentage of Brits listening weekly rising from 18% to 20%. The bulk of the growth comes from consumers aged 18-30: the percentage who listen at least once a week has grown +6 points to 28%.   

Weekly usage among those aged 31-49 sits at 23%, while only 9% of over 50s listen to an audiobook at least once a week. However, we do see a drop in the number of over 50s who say they never listen to audiobooks (62%, down from 67% in 2024), which suggests that more older listeners might be giving them a go. 

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Social media trends

Trend 6: Younger Brits increase social media use

The percentage of consumers spending three plus hours on social media per day has increased by +4 points to 32%. The increase comes primarily from Brits aged 31-49, who are now +5 points more likely to indulge in 3-hour-plus daily social sessions (to 30%). Despite this, this age group is most likely to say they spend 1-2 hours online each day.

Consumers aged 18-30 have also increased the amount of time they spend online, recording a +3 point increase in sessions over three hours since last year, to a sizable 54%. Under 30s spend the most time on social platforms overall, being most likely to spend 3-4 hours each day. 

Older Brits (age 50-65) typically spend up to an hour on social media each day, and only 14.5% spend more than three hours. When it comes to the biggest doomscrollers, women are twice as likely to spend 6+ hours a day on social platforms (6% versus 3% of men). At the other end of the scale, over 50s are significantly more likely to say they spend less than 30 minutes (or no time at all) on social per day: 37% versus just 6% of under 30s. 

Trend 7: TikTok leads social media platform growth

All the social media platforms in our survey have failed to chalk up notable growth in daily users over the last year – with TikTok being the singular exception. TikTok has increased daily users by +6 points to 35%. At the same time, the platform has attracted net new users, with the percentage of Brits who never use it having declined from 47% to 38%. 

With daily usage of Youtube seeing only a negligible increase (to 41.5%), TikTok is edging closer to becoming the nation’s third-most popular social media platform. Consumers aged 31-49 are primarily responsible for TikTok’s growth, with a +7 increase in daily users among this age group (to 32%). However, TikTok’s biggest user group is the under 30s, 61% of whom use the platform daily following a +4 point increase. This makes TikTok as popular as Instagram for this age group.

Meanwhile, Facebook’s largest user group is made up of those aged 31-49, 65% of whom use it daily (up +4 points since last year). Interestingly, the age profile of X has shifted in the last year, moving from being evenly distributed, to being dominated by the under 30s: 26% of 18-30s use X daily, compared with 22% 31-49s and 17% of over 50s. X has also obtained net new users among the under 30s, with the percentage who never use it decreasing by -5 points to 26%. 

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Print and digital content trends

Trend 8. Under 30s are digging into digital magazine content

Brits aged 18-30 have increased their readership of digital magazine content in 2025. Following a +7 point jump, more than a third now access it every week (33.5%). This means the under 30s are now more likely to read digital magazines than 31-49-year-olds, who were the previous biggest consumers. 

Overall, digital magazines record a +3 point increase in the number of consumers reading them each week (to 27%), while digital news sites experience a small decline (to 65%). The over 50s are the biggest consumers of digital news, with 71.5% accessing it at least once a week. However, this represents a -6 point decline on last year. The 31-49-year-old age group has also reduced its weekly consumption of digital news by a few percentage points (to 68%), while under 30s have slightly increased it (to 55%). 

High income households are more likely to read digital content regularly – ability to pay for subscriptions no doubt plays a role. We see that 82% of those with a household income in excess of £75k access digital news weekly (versus 59% with a household income below £35k), while 52% access digital magazine content every week (versus 22%). There’s also a gender split when it comes to digital news: 72.5% of men say they access it weekly, in comparison to 59% of women. 

Trend 9. Newspapers make a small resurgence 

While the tradition of the daily newspaper seems to be over, printed papers aren’t completely dead. The percentage of Brits reading a paper “a few times a week” has been modestly growing over the last few years, rising from 8% in 2022, to 11.5% in 2025. 

Combined with the 7% of consumers who do still buy a daily tabloid or broadsheet, that’s 18.5% of the population reading a physical newspaper multiple times per week, while a further 8% pick one up “once or twice a week”. Newspaper readership is seeing growth among younger consumers: under 30s register a +6 point increase in weekly use.

However, at the same time, consumers over 50s are reducing their newspaper consumption. Only 24% of 50-65-year-olds read a newspaper weekly (down -9 points since last year). In 2025, its consumers aged 31-49 who are most likely to read printed papers overall: 28% read one weekly, but this segment fails to record any growth. 

Interestingly, men are significantly more likely to engage with physical newspapers than female consumers (32% versus 21% read papers weekly). They’re also more likely to read printed magazines on a weekly basis (25% versus 20%). Overall, 22.5% of the population read printed magazines every week, with the biggest consumers being 18-30-year-olds (26.5% read mags weekly).  

Higher earners over-index for reading newspapers and magazines regularly: 48% of consumers with a household income over £75k read a paper every week compared with 23% of those with a household income under £35k, while 44% read print magazines on a weekly basis versus 18% of lower earners.

Trend 10. Younger consumers increase spending on content subscriptions

Despite the pressure of the cost of living in 2025, content subscriptions are performing well: 37% of Brits are paying to subscribe to a digital or print publication, which is +7 points more than last year. Today, consumers aged 18-30 — already the biggest spenders in content subscriptions — are +10 points more likely to be paying for a subscription (51% of this age group has one). 

Likewise, consumers aged 31-49 are +8.5 points more likely to have a content subscription this year: 37% have at least one. The over 50s are the least likely to be paying for content, but 24.5% have at least one subscription. 

Household income plays a big role in likelihood to pay for content: 65.5% of higher earners have a content subscription versus 32% of lower earners. However, we also see that gender plays a role, as significantly more men pay for content than women (45% versus 30%).

Overall, digital content subscriptions dominate: 19% of consumers say they subscribe to digital content, versus 5% who have a subscription to a print publication (although a further 13% have subscriptions to both types of publications).