UK adults are spending less time consuming commercial media compared to nine years ago, despite media consumption habits reverting back to pre-pandemic patterns.

According to IPA’s 2024 Making Sense report, which tracks how commercial media consumption has shifted since 2015, the share of time spent on commercial curated media has dropped by two percentage points, from 66% to 64% in 2024.

Commercial curated media share, which refers to content-driven channels like TV and online (excluding mail and OOH), had the highest decline among the 16–34 demographic, where it shifted from 76% in 2015 to 67% in 2024.

However, this marks a four percentage point rise since 2020 (when it stood at 63%), highlighting the growing influence of ad-supported tiers on streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ on media consumption.

The report draws on IPA TouchPoints 2024 data to show how commercial media consumption has shifted over time by analysing time spent, share of time, and weekly reach of each commercial channel across four key audiences: all adults, 16–34s, 35-54s, and 55s+.

Since 2015, time spent with curated commercial media has dropped by 17 minutes for adults and by 24 minutes for the 16-34 demographic.

Making Sense report author and head of TouchPoints marketing and data innovation Simon Frazier suspects this shift is due to the decrease in linear broadcast TV viewing.

However, he says it’s “surprising” that it’s not greater given “the perceived disruptive growth of subscription-based services which were formerly seen as taking commercial media share”.

Return to normality

Despite the emergence of new platforms and channels, the report found that people are slipping back into pre-pandemic media consumption patterns.

People still watch video in the evening, listen to audio in the morning, and spend time with OOH as the day progresses before tapering off by evening. Meanwhile, reading text remains steady, though at lower levels, across the entire day.

During the 2020-2021 lockdowns, media consumption patterns shifted dramatically as people stayed home. OOH viewership plummeted with fewer commuters, audio listening peaked later in the day, and video consumption surged earlier. These changes persisted beyond lockdown, only returning to pre-pandemic norms this year.

“We are seeing that overall patterns of commercial media consumption have reverted to pre-pandemic, established patterns, however, the methods of delivering commercial media are clearly evolving in line with technological advancements and are therefore changing the landscape for planners considerably,” Frazier adds.

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The channels on which curated commercial media is consumed have also changed. In 2015, non-digital channels claimed a 58% share. In 2024, this has fallen to 41%, while digital channels dominate at 59%. Among 16-34s, this shift is even more pronounced, with digital channels rising from 59% to 79%.

For the sixth consecutive year, no single commercial media channel—aside from OOH—manages to reach over 90% of all adults weekly.

Moreover, commercial SVoD now surpasses cinema in weekly reach, and nearly half of all adults engage with other online video each week, highlighting the fragmented video landscape.

“What these slight decreases do mean, though, is that media investment will have to work harder to cut through, as more media is being used concurrently rather than in isolation and attention is becoming more stretched as a commodity – fuelled by the ever-increasing smartphone take-up,” he adds.

Smartphone use is also at an all-time high. Adults now spend 32% of their total curated commercial media time on smartphones, up from 20% in 2015.

These figures have increased considerably for 16-34s, rising from 33% in 2015 to 48% in 2024. For 55s+, this figure has gone from 6% in 2015 to 16% in 2024, leaping over radio set, PC/laptop, and print into second place, behind the television set.