Adolescence or The Traitors? Netflix neck-and-neck with BBC as British viewers’ go-to

Amid slowing streaming market, Netflix still produces hits that help make it default service for quarter of Britons

Netflix is neck-and-neck with the BBC as the default service Britons turn to when they switch on their TV, according to research.

The home of Adolescence and KPop Demon Hunters is now the first port of call for 26% of viewers, Ofcom found. The national broadcaster is narrowly behind, as the go-to for 25% of audiences..

Although growth in streaming platforms has slowed in the UK, Netflix in particular is still producing breakthrough hits with audiences.

However, Ofcom said viewing figures for the start of 2026 showed the BBC mounting a fightback, with the latest series of The Traitors and Tom Hiddleston’s return to The Night Manager topping the ratings. That trend has continued into the summer thanks to the BBC and ITV’s coverage of the World Cup.

Kate Davies, the group director for strategy and research at Ofcom, said traditional broadcasters were showing “resilience” through their live and event TV programming.

Describing the competitive landscape between the likes of the BBC , Sky, Netflix and Google-owned YouTube as “fierce”, she added: “To thrive and survive in the current media landscape, it’s more important than ever for companies to continue to understand changing audience habits and adapt their strategies to meet people where they are.”

YouTube is also becoming more of a fixture of TV viewing, with the amount it is viewed on people’s TV sets doubling over the past four years. There were also signs of a drop off among young audiences, with steep declines in live TV viewing among 16- to 24-year-olds and 4- to 15-year-olds of 17% each, although Ofcom said this was partly due to the absence of major sporting events in 2025, compared with the boost from the Paris Olympics and Euro 2024 the previous year.

But alternative video viewing services were not necessarily the beneficiaries of the decline of young viewership numbers for broadcasters. Ofcom said young adults continue to watch TV and film less and less, watching 11 fewer minutes of broadcast, streaming and on-demand services at home last year, due to the allure of alternatives such as social media and gaming.

Despite Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Apple shooting big series in the UK in recent years, from Sex Education to Masters of the Air to Rivals, public services broadcasters led by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 delivered more than 30,000 hours of UK-originated content last year, not including repeats.