Media Nations 2020

This is Ofcom’s third annual Media Nations report, a reference publication for industry, policy makers, academics and consumers.

It reviews key trends in the TV and online video sectors, as well as radio and other audio sectors. Accompanying this report is an interactive report that includes an extensive range of data. There are also separate reports for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

This year’s publication comes during a particularly eventful and challenging period for the UK media industry. The Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown period has changed consumer behaviour significantly and caused disruption across broadcasting, production, advertising and other related sectors.

Our report focuses in large part on these recent developments and their implications for the future. It sets them against the backdrop of longer-term trends, as laid out in our five-year review of public service broadcasting (PSB) published in February, part of our Small Screen: Big Debate review of public service media. Media Nations provides further evidence to inform this, as well as assessing the broader industry landscape.

Media Nations: the reports

Media Nations 2020: UK (PDF, 2.6 MB)

Key points

Changing behaviour during the pandemic appears to be accelerating the growth in viewing of online video, particularly subscription services such as Netflix and Disney+.
The Covid-19 crisis has reinforced the importance of public service broadcasters as trusted providers of news and information.
Broadcasters face significant challenges as they seek to overcome financial and scheduling challenges to better compete for audiences.
Competition in subscription video-on-demand services has intensified, with Disney+ making the biggest impact among several new market entrants.
Radio listening was broadly resilient during lockdown, but the sector will need to weather the advertising market downturn exacerbated by Covid-19.

Media Nations 2020: Northern Ireland (PDF, 2.5 MB)

Key points

There was a significant increase in broadcast TV viewing during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. People in Northern Ireland spent an average of 4 hours and 53 minutes per day watching something on the TV screen at the height of the lockdown in April 2020, a 69-minute increase on the figure for 2019.
BBC services were the most-used services for news about Covid-19 during the early stages of the lockdown. More than eight in ten (83%) online respondents in Northern Ireland used BBC services during the first four weeks of the lockdown period.
Paid-for satellite and cable television services from Sky and Virgin Media are present in just under half of homes in Northern Ireland (44%).
At the beginning of 2020, some 62% of homes had some way of connecting their TV to the internet, through a smart TV or other device such as a streaming stick.
More than half of households in Northern Ireland (56%) have a subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) service from companies such as Netflix, Amazon and Now TV.
Netflix is the most popular, present in nearly half of homes (49%) while Amazon Prime Video is present in around a quarter of homes (28%).
The BBC iPlayer is the most popular broadcast video-on-demand (BVoD) player in Northern Ireland. It is watched in just under a third of homes (30%), followed by the ITV Hub (21%), All4 (18%) and My5 (14%).
People in Northern Ireland continue to watch less broadcast TV than in any other UK nation, on average. People in Northern Ireland spent 2 hours 54 minutes watching broadcast television in 2019; an 11-minute (5.8%) decline from 3 hours 5 minutes in 2018.
For the second consecutive year, Derry Girls was the most-watched programme in Northern Ireland.
UTV and BBC One are the most-used sources for people looking for news about Northern Ireland.
There was an 18% increase in spending on first-run content for viewers in Northern Ireland in 2019. Of this £32.9m spend, the majority went towards non-news/non-current affairs programming, at £13.2m, up by 16% since the previous year. The increase in spend on other genres ends the steady decline seen over recent years.
Current affairs had the largest relative increase in first-run spend, increasing by 48% on the previous year to a record high of £8.6m.
Overall, news content dominates the BBC’s output for Northern Ireland, comprising over half (54%) of first-run hours.
UTV’s hours of first-run content for Northern Ireland have remained stable since 2016, with 355 hours of programme output in 2019.
Nine in ten adults in Northern Ireland tune in to live radio every week, on average, for more than 19 hours a week.
Local stations – Cool FM, Downtown, Downtown Country, U105, the Q Network and Radio Ulster/Foyle – account for 59% of listening in Northern Ireland, far higher than their counterpart stations in Scotland and Wales.
Radio is a popular news platform, with four in ten adults using it to access news about their nation, higher than the use of radio for news in Scotland or Wales.
Digital listening (over DAB and online) continues to grow, rising 3.5pp to 43% (Q1, 2020) but remains significantly below the other UK nations.
About one in five homes in Northern Ireland had smart speakers at the beginning of 2020 (21%). The most popular use of smart speakers among users in NI was to listen to a live radio station (67%).

Media Nations 2020: Scotland (PDF, 3.0 MB)

Key points

There was a significant increase in TV set viewing during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. People in Scotland spent an average of 5 hours and 46 minutes per day watching something on the TV screen at the height of the lockdown in April 2020, an 85 minute increase on the figure for 2019.
TV news reached an average of 73.5% of the population in Scotland each week in March 2020.
BBC services were the most-used services for news about Covid-19 during the early stages of the lockdown. More than seven in ten (76%) online respondents in Scotland used BBC services during the first four weeks of the lockdown period.
At the beginning of 2020, some 59% of homes in Scotland had a TV connected to the internet through a smart TV or other device such as streaming sticks (e.g. Amazon Fire, Roku and Google Chromecast).
More than half of households in Scotland (56%) had a subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) service from suppliers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and NOW TV in Q1 2020. Netflix is the most popular and was present in nearly half of homes (49%).
The BBC iPlayer was the most popular broadcaster video-on-demand (BVoD) player in Scotland at the beginning of 2020. It was watched in just over a third of Scottish homes (35%), followed by the STV Player (25%), All4 (18%) and My5 (15%).
People in Scotland watch the most broadcast TV of any UK nation. On average, people in Scotland spent 3 hours 22 minutes watching broadcast TV in 2019 (including consolidated 7-day viewing).
The finale of series five of Line of Duty was the most-viewed programme in Scotland in 2019.
BBC One and STV were the most-used sources of news in 2020 for people in Scotland.
Spend on programming for viewers in Scotland rose significantly, by £26.3m to £80.6m in 2019, largely due to the launch of the new BBC Scotland channel in February 2019.
The launch of BBC Scotland led to a large increase in the number of hours produced by the BBC for viewers in Scotland, rising by 81% to 1,342 hours in 2019.
The weekly reach of radio remained strong in 2020, with 85.8% of adults listening every week during Q1 2020.
Radio listening through digital platforms (DAB, DTV online) made up 57% of all listening in Q1 2020.
Just over a quarter of homes in Scotland had a smart speaker (27%) at the beginning of 2020. The most popular reason for using a smart speaker among users in Scotland was listening to live radio (65%).

Media Nations 2020: Wales (PDF, 3.7 MB)

Cyfryngau'r Genedl 2020: Cymru (PDF, 2.7 MB)

Key points

There was a significant increase in broadcast TV viewing during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. People in Wales spent an average of 5 hours and 30 minutes per day watching something on the TV screen at the height of the lockdown in April 2020, a 65-minute increase on the figure for 2019.
BBC services were the most-used services for news about Covid-19 during the early stages of the lockdown. Eight in ten (78%) online respondents in Wales used BBC services during the first four weeks of the lockdown period.
At the beginning of 2020 paid-for satellite and cable television services from Sky and Virgin Media were present in just under half of homes in Wales (46%).
Some 59% of homes in Wales had a TV connected to the internet in Q1 2020 through a smart TV or other device such as a streaming stick (e.g. Amazon Fire, Roku and Google Chromecast).
More than half of households in Wales (54%) had a subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) service from providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Now TV at the beginning of 2020.
Netflix is the most popular of these and was present in nearly half of homes (54%) while Amazon Prime Video was present in around a quarter of homes (24%).
BBC iPlayer was the most popular broadcaster video-on-demand (BVoD) player in Wales. It was watched in half of Welsh homes (50%) at the start of 2020, followed by the ITV Hub (38%), All4 (28%) and My5 (23%).
On average, people in Wales watched 3 hours 21 minutes of broadcast TV per day in 2019. This is a 13-minute (6.1%) decline from 3 hours 33 minutes in 2018.
The Gavin and Stacey Christmas Day special was the most-watched programme in Wales in 2019, with an audience of nearly 1.3 million.
TV channels BBC One and ITV Wales are the most-used news sources for people in Wales.
The BBC’s and ITV Wales’ combined spend on programming for Wales decreased by 2% in 2019 to £33.5m. The BBC continues to drive the spend on first-run content for Wales, making up £27.4m of the total, with ITV Wales accounting for the remaining £6.1m.
The BBC produced 629 hours of local programming in 2019, a slight rise on the previous year, while ITV produced 332 hours of local programming, slightly less than in 2018.
Nine in ten adults in Wales tune in to live radio every week and, on average, for more than 20 hours a week.
BBC services are more popular in Wales than in any other part of the UK, with Radio 2 retaining its position as the most listened-to station across Wales.
Digital listening – through DAB radio, DTT and online (including smart speakers) – accounted for 52% of all listening in Q1 2020, having overtaken analogue listening in Q2 2019 for the first time.
Just over a quarter of homes in Wales have smart speakers (26%). The most popular uses of smart speakers among users in Wales were to get weather reports (63%), or to listen to a live radio station or a music streaming service (both 62%).