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    YouTube now the second most-watched media service in the UK – Ofcom
    United Kingdom

    YouTube now the second most-watched media service in the UK – Ofcom

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    33 Comments

    1. No_Minimum5904 on

      I’ve completely gotten out of the habit of flicking through tv channels now. Even though our TV has freeview built in I haven’t even bothered to configure it.

      We use an app called Smarttubenext on our TV and for me it’s mostly replaced our “live TV” usage.

    3. Glittering_Copy8907 on

      No surprise – YouTube has some exceptional creators, putting out genuinely good material. Some of the long form documentary type videos I watch are better than anything I’ve seen on TV.

      And with the state of other streaming services, I’d rather bung a niche creator a few quid a month to get content I desperately want to sit down and watch than be paying a variety of huge corps for mediocre shite.

    4. pubemaster_uno on

      Can’t wait for the BBC to claim that we should pay them in order to be able to watch YouTube, then they can continue to pay national treasures like Huw Edwards and Gary Lineker the big bucks.

    5. likely-high on

      Imagine if 20 years ago the BBC  built something similar. Funded the infrastructure with part of the licence fee and paid out a creator program. 

    6. namboozle on

      I’ve been paying for YouTube Premium for a few years now, and it’s worth every penny. There’s an endless supply of quality content which can’t be said for traditional TV networks.

    7. Apprehensive_Bus_543 on

      Oh dear a stream of dumb ass comments comparing the BBC to YouTube incoming.

    10. CyberPunkDongTooLong on

      Don’t believe for a second more time is spent watching BBC than YouTube.

      Look at the methodology in the OfCom report… Ah. This is clearly worthless and massively biased towards TV channels.

      “. Barb’s panel
      consists of a nationally representative panel of approximately 7,000 homes (approximately 16,000
      individuals). The data that Barb collects includes viewing of broadcast TV through TV sets and via any
      devices attached to TV sets, such as computers, streaming devices, or set-top boxes. Barb also
      captures device-based ‘big data’ whenever anyone in the UK watches a broadcaster’s video-on-
      demand (BVoD) service on a connected device, as well as some viewing data for online streaming
      services (VSPs and SVoD/AVoD) on TV sets, and for devices not connected to the TV being watched

      at home via WiFi. Barb does not capture out-of-home viewing.”

      YouTube is clearly massively ahead of BBC.

    11. rebo_arc on

      I can’t have any sympathy for the BBC when it treats innocent people as criminals.

    13. Ok-Purpose5684 on

      I only use iPlayer to watch a few shows and whatever movies get uploaded, other than that it’s all YouTube .

    14. granite-barrel on

      I’m shocked it’s not first, there must be lots of OAPs leaving the BBC on in the background all day making up those numbers…

    18. Not_Alpha_Centaurian on

      The BBC is like a chicken that had its head chopped off a couple minutes ago but is still flapping around

    19. Thestickleman on

      I definitely watch and listen to YouTube more then anything else.

      Shame that will probably come to an end soon Because of the dumbass online safety bill (I’ll use a vpn whenever I can but still….)

    20. brainburger on

      And yet Ofcom don’t do anything about the adverts on youtube which would be illegal if it were a broadcast service. I saw one for stun-guns the other week.

    21. cuppachuppa on

      You Tube is an incredible business (for Google) as all the investment in equipment, all the training, all the research, the writing, the ideas, the shooting, the editing and all the risk lays entirely with the people who create the content.

      If the content does well, Googe earn from advertising and they throw a little bit your way.

      If it does badly, you get nothing and Google don’t have to reimburse you for all your time and your outlay.

      TV can’t compete with a business model like this.

    23. MrSam52 on

      I went for YouTube premium start of the year. The amount of different documentaries available is just another level and the quality is what you’d get from any tv station.

      When you add on top of that music concerts and creators for basically any subject you have an interest in it’s not surprising.

    24. CedricTheCurtain on

      Great! Now do your job OFCOM, and apply exactly the same rules to it as you do terrestrial TV. Especially when it comes to advertising!

    28. eldomtom2 on

      Another thread filled with people who’s sole media consumption seems to be “documentaries” for background noise…

    29. Concerned-CitizenUK on

      No surprise there, I haven’t watched live tv in years, if I could easily ditch the licence fee I would spend it on add free YouTube

    30. Trundlenator on

      No surprise.

      YouTube offers choice where broadcasters don’t, and while broadcaster’s quality declines YouTube content changes with viewers desires keeping them relevant.

      Who’d want to watch another disappointing BBC, ITV and channel 4 programme when they could go on YouTube and look up specific content that interests them?

      Not to say YouTube doesn’t come with its own set of issues but I think it’s better than anything public tv has to offer.

    31. 360Saturn on

      I think calling it a ‘media service’ is a bit misleading – seems designed to try and capture it in some kind of existing law.

      You might as well say that videogames should be captured in the tv licence or anything that uses a monitor because when it was set up, the tv was the only kind of home-based ‘screen’ that existed…

    33. IllustriousFig5024 on

      Won’t be when they require facial ID to prove your old enough to use it 😀 Which is already happening in other countries right now.