One Television Year in the World 2025 Edition

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In 2024, based on TV consumption in 86 countries worldwide, viewers spent an average of 2 hours 19 minutes per day watching television. The average for young adults was 1 hour 25 minutes. Glance has identified several significant trends in a media universe undergoing rapid transformation, which is constantly challenged by the digitalisation of uses and content that has to be accessible at all times: TV programme consumption held up well in the highly competitive market of 2024, particularly in Europe, driven by linear TV, international sporting events, new series and tried and tested entertainment.

In an increasingly fragmented environment, all TV and Video audience measurement stakeholders are rallying round to best capture new uses. Throughout the world, daily audience measurements are being enhanced by ever more detailed data (prebroadcast, out of home, BVoD, AVoD, SVoD, etc.). We have seen very positive recent developments in this direction in Australia, Germany, France or Italy for example, and in the United Kingdom, which has been developing a very comprehensive measurement for quite some time. More than ever, Glance’s role is to identify reliable audience data from robust methodologies in this vast amount of data.

Frédéric Vaulpré, President of Glance

TV programmes leading video consumption

Despite increased competition from streaming and social media stakeholders, TV broadcasters' programmes remain in the lead of video consumption worldwide. In the United Kingdom, for example, TV programmes account for 62% of the time spent watching video content, 65% in Canada and 46% in the United States versus, respectively: 38%, 35% and 43% from streaming content.

Television is still a powerful medium and continues to bring together more than 9 in 10 people in Europe throughout the year, as well as 86% of the population of Asia. Stable viewing figures compared to 2023.

The power of linear TV and sporting events

Although the TV medium brings the world together, this is primarily for watching linear TV programmes or live shows. Linear TV account for nearly 90% of television viewing time.

Of the leading live programmes, international sporting events attracted large audiences in 2024: with football’s Euro 2024 in Germany and the Paris Olympic Games, the audience for sports channels increased by 0.5 points on average per country in Europe. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games also enabled a channel like Eurosport, for example, to increase its audience share by more than 3 points in the five main European countries and to increase the market share of public channels in Europe (+1.7 points for BBC One in the United Kingdom, +0.8 points for La 1 in Spain and +0.7 points for ZDF in Germany).

In North America, the Super Bowl achieved its best ever ratings, with audiences up 7% in the United States and 52% in Canada.

Fiction and Entertainment: the keys to success

Finally, the launch of new series and the broadcast of successful entertainment brands remain strategic in the rankings of the most watched television programmes in most countries.

In 2024, over a third (38%) series present in the top 10 programmes in 70 countries were brand new. The launch of new series also increased by 24% in one year. Some of the themes this year are fictions featuring female characters such as the Korean series The Tale of Lady Ok, which quadrupled the audience of its broadcaster JTBC during the slot, or historical series mirroring the present, like the satirical Whiskey On The Rocks, which had Sweden’s best audience of 2024 for a drama series.

As for entertainment, proven successful formats continue to make progress in the top national programmes: Dancing with the Stars, which first aired in 2004, is present in 7 countries and The Masked Singer, which launched in 2015, in 6. A trend is emerging in the genre's new releases: branded entertainment, which promotes branded content. British entertainment show Celebrity Send Off sees pairs of celebrities arrange test-run funerals for their partners, helped by a funeral home that sponsors the programme.

Buoyed by this success, SVoD stakeholders are increasingly integrating entertainment into their editorial strategies and, after sport, are investing in the genre. In the top 100 SVoD programmes (on Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Max) in 13 countries, there are now 58 entertainment formats, mainly in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Canada.