People in Northern Ireland watched an average of 4 hours 47 minutes of video content at home per day in 2025
KPop Demon Hunters was the most-watched programme or film in Northern Ireland in 2025.
Ofcom’s latest Media Nations report shows that people in Northern Ireland watched an average of 4 hours 47 minutes of video content at home per day in 2025, a one-minute decline year-on-year.
The Netflix animated family film averaged 616,000 viewers on TV sets, followed by the first episode of the third season of local police drama Blue Lights with 508,000 viewers.
The top 10 watched shows/films in NI for 2025:
1. KPop Demon Hunters (Films) – Netflix, Film (2025) | Audience: 616,000
2. Blue Lights (Drama) – BBC, Series 3, Episode 1 | Audience: 508,000
3. Ms. Rachel (Children) – Netflix, Series 1, Episode 2 | Audience: 433,000
4. Adolescence (Drama) – Netflix, Series 1, Episode 2 | Audience: 412,000
5. The 1% Club (Entertainment) – ITV/UTV, Series 4, Episode 6 | Audience: 377,000
6. The Celebrity Traitors (Entertainment) – BBC, Series 1, Episode 9 | Audience: 367,000
7. I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (Entertainment) – ITV/UTV, Series 25, Episode 1 | Audience: 343,000
8. The Chase Celebrity Special (Entertainment) – ITV/UTV, Series 12, Episode 9 | Audience: 321,000
9. Tarzan (Films) – Disney+, Film (1999) | Audience: 320,000
10. Harlen Coben’s Missing You (Drama) – Netflix, Series 1, Episode 1 | Audience: 310,000
The top ten was split equally between broadcast and streamer content, with Netflix in three of the top five places. Celebrity entertainment remained strong for PSBs, with four titles ranking in the top ten, three on ITV/UTV and one on BBC.
Northern Ireland’s TV viewing and streaming habits
Broadcast TV from the likes of the BBC and UTV continues to account for the majority of time spent in front of screens but streamers like Netflix and video sharing platforms like YouTube are an increasingly important part of our daily viewing routine, according to Ofcom.
Total broadcaster TV content, including live TV, recorded TV and Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVoD), accounted for 55% of video viewing time (2 hours 38 minutes), a decrease of 15 minutes (-9%) since 2024.
Subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) such as Netflix, advertising video-on-demand (AVoD) such as Pluto TV, and video-sharing platforms (VSPs), such as YouTube, saw the biggest year-on-year increases.
SVoD/AVoD services had a 4-minute increase, watched for 41 minutes on average, accounting for 14% of total video viewing time. Average daily VSP viewing increased by 5 minutes year-on-year to 54 minutes, equating to 19% of all video viewing time.
Just over three-quarters of households in Northern Ireland (76%) have at least one SVoD service.
When Ofcom surveyed where people usually turn to first when they are thinking about what they want to watch, around a third (34%) of online adults in Northern Ireland said they would turn to Netflix, followed by any BBC service (18%).
Four in ten (41%) said that they would turn to a service from one of the public service broadcasters.
Individuals in Northern Ireland spent 40 minutes per day on average viewing YouTube across all devices in the home in 2025. The average time spent viewing YouTube on a TV set increased by 27%, from 15 minutes in 2024 to 19 minutes per day in 2025.
Nearly half (48%) of in-home YouTube viewing in Northern Ireland is now via a TV set.
How NI is accessing the news
Television programmes were the main way for people to access news about Northern Ireland, with BBC One and ITV1/UTV remaining the top two ways used (38% each).
Radio also features much more prominently in Northern Ireland for local news compared to other nations with BBC Radio Ulster /Foyle and Cool FM/Downtown also appearing in the top five most used news sources used for news about Northern Ireland.
Facebook was the most commonly reported social media for accessing news about Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland is still ‘Radio Ga Ga’
Radio continues to reach the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland, with almost nine in ten adults (88%) tuning in each week, a figure which has been broadly consistent for a number of years.
However, RAJAR data indicates a considerable decrease in the proportion of young people in Northern Ireland listening to the radio over the past few years, currently 70% compared to 88% in 2021/22. The other age groups have remained relatively stable over the same period.
Music streaming services reach 64% of adults in Northern Ireland each week. The most used service for streaming music is Spotify, with 49% of adults in Northern Ireland listening each week to music through either the premium or free versions.
Twenty-five per cent of adults in Northern Ireland now listen to podcasts on a weekly basis, a steady increase from 14% four years ago. Younger adults are more likely to listen to podcasts with 34% of 15-34-year-olds in Northern Ireland listening each week.
Jonathan Rose, Ofcom’s Northern Ireland Director, said: “The media landscape in Northern Ireland is changing. Broadcast TV remains popular but streamers like Netflix and video-sharing platforms like YouTube account for a growing portion of our daily viewing diet.
“Radio remains popular but there are big generational changes in how people are getting their audio content. Podcasts especially are proving a big hit with younger people.
“News is still a big draw on TV and Radio, showing the keen interest people in Northern Ireland have in wanting to know what’s happening on their own doorstep.”
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