NI viewing & listening habits revealed

Viewers and listeners in Northern Ireland have a strong appetite for local services and programmes, with Derry Girls topping the list of most-watched programmes last year.

Nearly half a million viewers (495,000) tuned in for the first episode of the final series of the hit TV programme. Bloodlands, another show set in Northern Ireland, also made the top ten, at number nine. The King’s Christmas Day message was the sixth most-watched programme in 2022, with an average audience of 292,000. Northern Ireland was the only nation where this appeared in the top ten list.

According to Ofcom’s latest Media Nations report, which highlights the media habits of people in Northern Ireland, there was a 9.5% decline in the amount of broadcast TV people watched on a TV set in 2022. But, at 2 hours and 44 minutes on average per day, this still represents a sizable chunk of people’s leisure time.

In line with the general trend across the UK, older people in Northern Ireland watched more broadcast TV on the television set than younger viewers. The over-54s watched more than any other age group, at an average of 5 hours 14 minutes per day, down by 4.8% since 2021. Those aged 16-24 watched the least, at an average of 31 minutes per day, down by 22.4% since 2021.

In 2022, the main five public service broadcasting (PSB) channels accounted for a combined 52.5% share of the total broadcast TV audience in Northern Ireland. BBC One had the highest audience share of any individual PSB channel, at 20.5%. UTV’s audience share in Northern Ireland (19.2%) was the highest Channel 3 share among the UK nations.

Streaming services

In Northern Ireland, the number of households using subscription video-on-demand services (SVoD) dropped slightly at the start of 2023, with 68% of households reporting using at least one of them, down from 70% in 2022.

Netflix (69%) is the most popular SVoD service among online adults and teens in Northern Ireland, followed by Amazon Prime Video (56%) and Disney+ (39%).

Ofcom found that 96% of online adults and teens in Northern Ireland used a Broadcaster video-on-demand service. Four in five online adults and teens in Northern Ireland (80%) reported using BBC iPlayer in 2023, with just under half using Channel 4 (46%) and just over one in four using My5 (26%) over the same period. Following its launch at the end of 2022, just over half of people in Northern Ireland said they used ITVX in early 2023.?

YouTube was the most popular video-sharing platform, with 52% of online teens and adults in Northern Ireland using it to watch programmes, films or other video content.

News sources

UTV was the most popular source for news in general for adults in Northern Ireland with around half of adults using UTV (47%) and BBC One (44%). Sky News Channel was the only other TV channel in the top ten news sources used in Northern Ireland. Facebook was the fourth most popular source of news (29%).

Radio also featured prominently, with both BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle (18%) and Cool FM (14%) making the top ten most-cited news sources. The BBC website/app was the highest-ranking website or app (13%).

Radio listening in Northern Ireland

Radio listening continues to be healthy in Northern Ireland, with almost 92% of adults (1.4 million) tuning for an average of 19 hours and 54 minutes each week in the first quarter of 2023.

Local radio is particularly strong in Northern Ireland, accounting for more than half (54%) of total radio listening compared to 30% across the UK as a whole. The majority of this listening is to local commercial radio, while UK-wide commercial stations fare less well in Northern Ireland.

More than six in ten adults in Northern Ireland (63.3%) listen to local commercial radio at least once a week – higher than in Scotland, Wales and the UK as a whole – and three in ten (30.3%) listen to the BBC’s nations’/local output.

BBC Radio 2 was the only UK-wide station to feature in the top five most-listened-to services across Northern Ireland in Q1 2023. BBC Radio Ulster was again the most popular station in terms of amount of listening, with a market share of 18.1% across Northern Ireland, followed by Cool FM (12.3%).

There was a 9.5% decline in the amount of broadcast TV people watched on a TV set in 2022. But, at 2 hours and 44 minutes on average per day, this still represents a sizable portion of people’s leisure time.

In 2022, the main five public service broadcasting (PSB) channels accounted for a combined 52.5% share of the total broadcast TV audience in Northern Ireland. BBC One had the highest audience share of any individual PSB channel, at 20.5%. UTV’s audience share in Northern Ireland (19.2%) was the highest Channel 3 share among the UK nations.

Streaming services

In Northern Ireland, the number of households using subscription video-on-demand services (SVoD) dropped slightly at the start of 2023, with 68% of households reporting using at least one of them, down from 70% in 2022.

Netflix (69%) is the most popular SVoD service among online adults and teens in Northern Ireland, followed by Amazon Prime Video (56%) and Disney+ (39%).

News sources

UTV was the most popular source for news in general for adults in Northern Ireland with around half of adults using UTV (47%) and BBC One (44%). Sky News Channel was the only other TV channel in the top ten news sources used in Northern Ireland. Facebook was the fourth most popular source of news (29%).

Radio also featured prominently, with both BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle (18%) and Cool FM (14%) making the top ten most-cited news sources. The BBC website/app was the highest-ranking website or app (13%).

Radio listening in Northern Ireland

Radio listening continues to be healthy in Northern Ireland, with almost 92% of adults (1.4 million) tuning for an average of 19 hours and 54 minutes each week in the first quarter of 2023.

Local radio is particularly strong in Northern Ireland, accounting for more than half (54%) of total radio listening compared to 30% across the UK as a whole. The majority of this listening is to local commercial radio, while UK-wide commercial stations fare less well in Northern Ireland.

There's more detail in the Northern Ireland report here and lots of extra material in the UK report here. Do get in touch if you've any queries.