Fast Facts

Statistics and facts on the communications industry taken from Ofcom research publications.

Below you will find key data relating to the take-up and use of television, radio, internet services, landline and mobile phones and post.

Download these facts and figures (PDF, 569.7 KB).

TV statistics

At £13.6bn, total broadcaster revenue was down by 4% in 2017, driven by declining advertising revenue and proportion of the licence fee attributed to TV.
Broadcasters spent £7.5bn on content in 2017, due to higher spend on sports rights and production.
Nine in ten people watched TV every week in 2017, for an average of 3 hours 23 minutes a day. This is nine minutes less than in 2016 and down across all age groups under the age of 65. Those aged 55+ accounted for more than half of all viewing in the UK.
Programmes attracting audiences greater than 8 million have halved in the past three years.

Radio statistics

Internet statistics

Landline and mobile statistics

The number of ADSL (copper) fixed broadband connections was overtaken by fibre connections in 2017.
Telecoms revenue fell by 1% to £35.6bn in 2017, with retail landline and data revenues unchanged during the year and retail mobile revenues declining.
Data use continued to increase - UK consumers used an average of 190 GB per fixed broadband line in June 2017 (up from 132 GB in June 2016) and 1.9 GB per active mobile subscription in 2017 (up from 1.3 GB).

Post statistics

1. This figure is drawn from Ofcom’s technology tracker. BARB’s establishment survey measured TV take up at 95.6% of UK homes in Q1 2016 and this is set out in the TV section of Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2017.

2. Average week in 2016.

3. Average week in 2017.

4. A household that solely uses mobile phones to fulfill its voice telephone requirements.

Fast Facts

See also...

Media releases

Consumer Policy

Published responses to FOI requests

Policies and guidelines