Womens Interfaith Media Literacy Website

About Different Media

This page contains some indicative facts and figures
about different media in the UK

Click on a link below to go directly to the section

Internet Radio Television Newspapers Magazines Film

Internet

18.3 million households in the UK (70 per cent) had Internet access in 2009.

The region with the highest level of access was London, with 80 per cent. The region with the lowest access level was Scotland, with 62 per cent.

Sixty-three per cent of all UK households had a broadband connection in 2009.

Of those households with Internet access, 90 per cent had a broadband connection

In 2009, 37.4 million adults (76 per cent of the UK adult population) accessed the Internet in the three months prior to interview.

The number of adults who had never accessed the Internet fell to 10.2 million (21 per cent) in 2009.

19 million (50 per cent) of internet users now visit Facebook

Radio

45 million people, or 90% of the UK population, tune in to their radios each week

30% of the UK population now live in homes which have a digital radio

more people are listening via digital TV and the Internet. A third of adults (2008) had listened online.

some 6.9 million mobile phone owners listen to radio via their phones

15% adults, (7.8 million) had downloaded a podcast by May 2009 and 8% do this every week.

66% of mp3 player owners now use their mp3 player to listen to podcasts.

BBC network radio accounts for 46.8% of listening, and BBC local radio for 8.2%.

BBC Radio 2 is the most popular BBC station followed by Radio 4 and Radio 1.

National commercial radio only has a 10.5% share but local commercial radio accounts for 32.8% of listening.

Classic FM is the most poplar commercial radio station.

By July 2009 205 community licences had been awarded covering 6.5 million adults.

Television

adults watch TV on average for 3.75 hours a day

TV remains the single most popular medium even though it is losing younger viewers 33% of 15-24 year olds have watched online, compared to 14% of 55-64 year olds

16-24 yr olds watch TV for 17 hours a week (Average is 23 hours)

The reach of multichannel TV continues to grow at the expense of the terrestrial channels, especially ITV1

over 18 million people can access digital television

BBC 1 is the most watched channel with a viewing share of 23.9%, BBC2 has 8%. ITV1 has a share of 15.8%, Channel 4, 5.9% and Five 3.8%. All the other channels available take a 42.6% share.

The most watched TV programmes are Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Eastenders

Newspapers

NEWSPAPER CIRCULATIONS 2009

Daily Telegraph The Times Financial Times The Guardian The Independent	744,000 563,000 401,000 305,000 187,000
The Mail Daily Express	2,149,000 685,000
The Sun The Mirror	2,959,000 1,260,000
News of the World Sunday Mirror People	2,923,000 1,148,000 534,000
Sunday Express Mail on Sunday	595,000 2,072,000
Sunday Times Sunday Telegraph Observer Independent on Sunday	1,171,000 577,000 373,000 157,000

80.4% of all British adults (39.5 million people) read a regional or local newspaper, 61% read a national newspaper.

28.9% of those who read a regional newspaper do not read a national daily.

There are 1,220 regional and local newspapers, including 512 paid-for weeklies, and 579 free weekly newspapers.

There are 1500 local or regional news websites

73.1% of 15-24 yr olds read regional or local newspapers

Magazines

Over 3,200 consumer magazines are published in the UK; in 2008, over 200 new titles were launched

Some 74 per cent of adults - 81 per cent of women and 67 per cent of men - read one of the 170 or so cnosumer magazines

79 percent of 15-24 year olds are reached by a magazine

Magazine readership is heaviest among more affluent groups such as ABC1s (81.3 per cent read a magazine).

The average individual buys 22 magazines a year

The average paid for magazine is read for 54 minutes.

The most popular general magazines are listings: TV Choice,What's On TV, Radio Times, and Take a Break, the most popular non tv magazines are Saga Magazine, OK!, Closer and Reader's Digest

The most popular women's magazines are Take a Break, OK!, Closer, Glamour, Heat and Chat

Film

About 60% of the UK population go to the cinema at least once a year, 18% go once a month or more.

The biggest film of 2008 was Mamma Mia! which earned over £69m, the highest grossing film of all time in the UK

The overall cinema audience is almost evenly split between men and women.

Dramas and comedies with romantic themes plus family films appeal most to women and girls.

Action-led films, whether historical dramas or fantasy and science fiction, appeal more to boys and men

The cinema audience for the top 20 films in 2008 was predominantly young, with the 7-34 age group (40% of the population) making up 64% of the audience;

younger age groups prefer animation, comedy,musicals and animated films while drama and musicals appeal more to the over 35s.

There was an average of 84 film viewings per person in 2008

Minority ethnic groups were equally or over-represented in the film audience, except for retail DVD/video where they were under-
represented.

Disabled people were under-represented in the film audience, except for retail video/DVD.

Sources: BARB, Ofcom, Rajar, Guardian, ABC, NRS, UK Film Council Statistical Yearbook

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