Media habits (adults)

Ofcom’s regular research into adults’ media literacy gives detailed evidence on media use, attitudes and understanding among UK adults aged 16+.

This annual report looks at media use, attitudes and understanding, and how these change over time.

Our Media Use and Attitudes and Media Lives reports – of which the adults’ research is now in its twentieth year - highlight online and media use by asking children and adults across the UK about the role that tech and media play in their lives.

This annual report looks at media use, attitudes and understanding, and how these change over time.

Ofcom's Adults' Media Lives study was set up in 2005 to provide a small-scale, rich and detailed qualitative complement to Ofcom's quantitative surveys of media literacy. The project follows the same 19 individuals over time, and interviews them on camera each year about their media habits and attitudes.

Podcasts are becoming a bigger part of our listening, covering a range of topics available across different platforms and formats.

Ofcom's Media Nations 2024 research, which took a look at how people in the UK use and consume media, highlighted a trend that might come as a surprise.

We’ve published our latest Media Nations report, which looks at the UK’s media landscape and how people across the country use and consume media across a range of platforms.

For the first time, less than half of 16-24-year-olds are now watching broadcast TV in an average week, according to Ofcom’s annual study into the nation’s media habits.

Ofcom’s annual Media Nations report is a research report for industry, policymakers, academics and consumers. Our main objectives are to capture evolving consumer behaviours and key trends in the media sector, and to set out how audiences are served in the UK.