British broadcasters are pursuing mergers as television revenues are impacted by streaming services, YouTube, and online advertisements, Ofcom reports. The media regulator's annual Media Nations report revealed that commercial broadcaster revenues decreased from £4.98bn to £4.83bn in 2025.
This decline occurred despite the broader TV and online video market growing by seven per cent to £18.4bn. The growth in the market was driven by online video, with advertising spending continuing to shift online.
These findings follow Sky's agreement to a £1.6bn takeover of ITV’s media and entertainment business. This deal is expected to create Britain’s largest commercial broadcaster.
Ofcom noted that audiences are now almost as likely to choose Netflix as their first viewing option (26 per cent) as they are the BBC (25 per cent). However, traditional broadcasters are retaining audiences through their own streaming platforms, with viewing on services like BBC iPlayer and ITVX increasing by nine per cent.
Despite this growth in broadcaster-owned streaming, it was not enough to offset the ongoing decline in linear television viewing, which saw an overall eight per cent fall. YouTube is also capturing a larger share of television viewing, with average daily viewing on TV sets more than doubling since 2022 to 19 minutes.