30th July 2015
Average person spends 9.5 years watching TV in their adult lifetime - a seventh of our lives!
Two thirds of adults drink alcohol while watching the box
British people binge watch a show for an average of four hours in one sitting
Almost a fifth of people admit to watching TV at work (19%)
15% of adults claim they watch majority of TV on demand
Were a nation of TV addicts, according to new research that reveals we spend more than seven full weeks1 a year in front of the telly, which adds up to a massive 9.5 years2 over an adult lifetime - thats a seventh (14%3) of our lives!
The new nationwide study of 2,000 people across the UK shines a spotlight on our current TV habits and opinions about acceptable viewing etiquette. The average person watches an average of 24 hours of TV a week; over a third (37%) eat at least one meal in front of the TV every day; and the average household now has four different devices they watch TV on.
The survey was commissioned by uktvplay.co.uk, which allows viewers to watch content from Dave, Drama, Really and Yesterday on demand. The findings reveal that 15% of us claim to watch the majority of our TV via on demand services rather than live, which significantly increases for those aged between 18 - 24 (33%). Similarly for this age group, over a third (37%) prefer to use tablets, mobiles or laptops instead of a television set.
Goggling the Box As the average person watches 24 hours of TV a week, 40% are revealed to watch at least 26 hours of TV a week, with a dedicated 7% of us watching up to 40 hours every week - over 5 and half hours a day. But its the Geordies who take the crown for being the biggest TV addicts in Britain, with 52% of respondents from the North East admitting they regularly watch over 26 hours a week, and 15% claiming they watch in excess of 40 hours of TV on a weekly basis. Those based in the East Midlands spend the least time glued to the box, only averaging 21 hours per week. On average, 63% of people indulge in alcohol while watching TV, proving that Britain has become a nation of tellyholics. Men are the most likely to reach for the bottle (66% versus 59% of women) but its the Welsh who are the most indulgent, with 70% of respondents enjoying alcohol while watching the box. The Northern Irish are the least likely to enjoy a drink with their evening viewing, with only 43% claiming they do.
Telly Binges The average British person will happily spend four hours in front of a single show. Young people are most likely to watch shows in bulk: 18-24 year olds spend an average of five hours in front of their favourite show, whereas those aged 55 and over, switch off after just three hours. Furthermore, when asked what the most important feature a catch up service should offer, 38% of people responded that collections were their top priority - so it looks as though telly binging is a habit that is here to stay.
Men vs Women The survey reveals that women and men share similar at-home TV habits; both watching an average of 24 hours a week and preferring to switch off the box by 11pm each night. However, dont be fooled into thinking this makes for harmonious telly watching, as when asked to choose just one genre to watch for the rest of their lives, the majority of men chose comedy (30%), whereas women preferred drama (43%). Women are also more likely to say its bad form to change the channel if theyre already watching a show (18%), whereas men are more relaxed about channel-changing, as only 12% say this is irritating behaviour.
Multitasking While TV viewing remains the preserve of shared family time (40%), 17% of people surveyed also enjoy watching TV with friends and housemates, and over a third (36%) admit to watching the bulk of their TV alone. West Midlanders are most likely to watch TV on their own (42%), followed by those in London (40%), while people in Northern Ireland are most likely to watch with family (48%). It seems TV watching is also a multitasking activity for many, with 46% of us regularly using a phone or a tablet at the same time as watching television programmes.
This multitasking isnt limited to the use of other devices, with people revealing they eat in front of the TV six times per week on average, while only 15% preferring not to eat in front of the TV at all. This multitasking continues at work, 19% will admit to watching TV in the workplace; over half (56%) of which are cheeky enough to do so right at their desks and a sly 9% going to the workplace bathroom. Londoners are most likely to have pulled a sickie to catch up on their favourite show (12%), followed by those in Wales (11%) - whereas South Westerners (4%) are least likely to bunk off work for a telly catch-up.
The Top Ten Commandments of modern TV Etiquette, as voted for by Brits:
It is acceptable to eat in front of the TV - 39%
People should not hog the remote - 24%
Adverts must be as entertaining as the show - 24%
Channel surfing is a turn-off - 16%
Its not OK to demand a channel change if youre a new addition to the room - 15%
You should always check someones seen a show before talking about spoilers - 15%
Its unacceptable to talk to people while they are watching TV - 13%
Its fine to watch TV in bed on a computer / tablet / phone - 13%
Entire weekends are there for binge-watching shows - 13%
Couples should not kiss / make out in front of the TV if there are other people in the room - 9%
UKTVs Controller Emma Tennant says,
Its amazing how many hours of small screen time we rack up in a lifetime - which is testament to the great programmes available to enjoy. It seems we are also increasingly taking TV out of our living rooms to watch on the go and create our own TV schedules by watching even more shows on catch up services like uktvplay.co.uk.
uktvplay.co.uk offers shows from Dave, Drama, Really and Yesterday on
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
30th July 2015 
