YouTube is Quietly Becoming British TV

The TV remote used to mean BBC, ITV, or Channel 4. Now for many households in the UK it means one thing: YouTube. That shift used to happen behind closed doors, but new data shows it’s now happening in the open and fast.

According to Ofcom’s 2025 Media Nations report, YouTube has become the second most-watched media service in the UK, behind the BBC and ahead of ITV. On average people watched 39 minutes per day on YouTube in 2024, of which 16 minutes was on TV sets.

Generational shifts by the numbers

• 20% of Gen Alpha (aged 4‑15) go straight to YouTube as soon as they turn the TV on

• Young adults (16‑34) watched 18 minutes daily of YouTube on TV 

• Viewing among over‑55s nearly doubled, rising to 11 minutes per day in 2024, up from 6 minutes in 2023

• 42% of all YouTube viewing by over‑55s now takes place on TV sets, up from 33% in 2023 

Overall broadcast TV viewing declined 4% across 2024, averaging just 2 hours 24 minutes per day. Yet total in-home video time held at 4 hours 30 minutes daily, meaning viewing didn’t vanish; it just migrated.

What’s really going on here?

This is not mobile-first behaviour creeping onto TV screens. It is YouTube asserting itself as a legitimate replacement for traditional broadcast channels.

Ofcom notes that around half of YouTube’s top‐trending content now resembles traditional TV, including long-form interviews and game show formats. In effect, YouTube has become a TV channel with UPFRONT REACH and algorithmic precision.

Ed Leighton, Ofcom’s interim group director for strategy and research, put it bluntly:

“Scheduled TV is increasingly alien to younger viewers, with YouTube the first port of call for many when they pick up the TV remote. But older adults are also turning to the platform as part of their daily media diet” 

What this means for marketers

YouTube is now television by consumption, yet most brands still treat it like a digital add-on. That gap is an opportunity and a risk. Here’s how to think about it:

• Screen-awareness matters. Your video first viewed on a 6-inch phone for Gen‑Alpha may end up on a 55-inch screen for grandparents. Context changes everything.

• Broadcasters are at risk. Linear TV still accounts for 56% of viewing, but that share is shrinking, and faster among younger cohorts.

• Creative needs recalibration. Short, snappy mobile ads may not retain TV attention. Narrative and production quality now influence whether viewers stay, or skip away.

• YouTube should no longer be siloed. Brands should plan YouTube alongside TV and streaming, not as a second thought. It’s shaping communal viewing habits in real time.

Key questions to ask now:

• Are your video assets truly flexible? Can they play on mobile, smart TV and broadcast platforms without losing impact?

• Do you plan YouTube independently from broader video planning? If yes, it might be time to integrate.

• Can you segment content by screen type and audience mindset, kids at home, adults unwinding, older viewers browsing casually?

• Is your agency measuring YouTube's impact only in clicks and views, or in household reach and brand salience?

If your answers feel like guesswork, your brand is still late to the living‑room transition.

What Truene Creative offers

We build video strategies designed for modern media habits. That means understanding how content moves across screens, demographics and household moments—and planning accordingly.

We help brands by:

• Creating adaptive video content that works at every screen size

• Planning YouTube-first campaigns that mimic TV treaties, not just digital buys

• Designing narrative hooks that cater to longer viewing sessions on smart TVs

• Advising on cross-channel media plans that bridge broadcast, YouTube and streaming

They just call it YouTube now. If your video strategy isn’t built for the living room, let’s fix that. We’ll help you create content and campaigns that reach the screen, and the household, that matters.