Live viewing remains a substantial part of watching television, even for younger audiences, according to a new report from UK audience measurement organisation Barb.
In December 2025, live viewing accounted for 45% of total identified TV set watching, Barb revealed in its annual report on audience habits What People Watched in 2025.
Programmes with large live audiences in 2025 included sporting events like the BBC and ITV’s coverage of the Women’s Euros final, entertainment shows such as BBC One’s Celebrity Traitors, and comfort TV like Channel 4’s Gogglebox.
On-demand streaming – via broadcasters’ VOD services, streamers, or video-sharing platforms – accounted for 38% of viewing in 2025.
Barb found that a large proportion of 2025 viewing on the UK’s three biggest streamers – Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Netflix – was to content available for more than 12 months, reflecting the importance of large library catalogues.
The most-used TV navigation platforms in 2025 were Freeview, Sky, and smart TV electronic programme guides (EPGs), with YouTube coming in fourth.
Viewers were most likely to turn to the top 10 TV channels first after switching the TV set on, with 37% of viewing sessions starting with one of them. Netflix was the most popular first port of call for young adults, accounting for 26% of TV set switch-ons among 16–34-year-olds, while the same proportion of 4–15-year-old children‘s viewing sessions started with YouTube.
Furthermore, Barb’s data also showed that the TV set has become the most-used device for people to watch YouTube through their domestic WiFi networks. The use of the TV set to watch YouTube is growing among all age groups, but viewing is skewed towards children aged 4–15, who accounted for a quarter of YouTube TV-set viewing in 2025 but only one-seventh of the UK population.
Justin Sampson, Chief Executive at Barb, said: “Commentary about television is too often based on a binary premise that ignores a more complex reality. Barb’s independent evidence points to a world in which viewing is defined more by adaptation than disruption.
“The prognosis is more connected, nuanced, and resilient than the clichés and partial viewpoints suggest. Live audiences are healthy, children and young people haven’t deserted linear services, and there’s an increasingly symbiotic relationship between all services and platforms in the TV ecosystem.”
The BBC Group recently struck a deal to produce new programming for YouTube, in an effort to capture younger viewers. Discover more here.
.jpg)
IBC launches study to map the media technology talent pipeline
IBC has launched How Did You Get Here?, a study designed to better understand how people enter and build careers in media technology.
Netflix kicks of landmark distribution deal with France’s TF1
Leading French broadcaster TF1’s live channels and streamer TF1+ are now available on Netflix’s platform in France following a landmark distribution deal between the two companies.
UK government sets out plans to give prominence for PSB news on social media
The UK government has set out plans to make social media platforms such as YouTube and Facebook give greater prominence to news from public service media.
Warner Bros. Discovery teams with AWS for agentic AI ad-tech
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has partnered with cloud provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) to develop its next-generation advertising experiences built with AWS agentic AI.
Active International picks Comcast Technology Solutions
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced that Active International, the global media and corporate trade group, is using Comcast AdFusion to modernise and scale its broadcast ad traffic and creative distribution operations.
