UK adults now spend 44% of their commercial media time alone

British adults now spend 44% of their time with commercial media on their own, up from 40% in 2015. The figure comes from the IPA’s TouchPoints research, published on 9 September 2026 in a report called “Making Sense: The commercial media landscape 2026”.

Sixteen to 34s spend two hours 45 minutes a day alone with media

Among people aged 16 to 34, the share consumed alone is 46%. In minutes, that group sits alone with commercial media for two hours and 45 minutes a day. In 2015 the same group spent one hour and 52 minutes. For all adults the daily figure is two hours and 32 minutes, against one hour and 56 minutes eleven years ago.

Time spent talking face to face fell by 11% among under-35s

The IPA also tracked conversation. All adults spend seven hours and 25 minutes a day in face-to-face company, down 4% since 2015. For 16 to 34s the drop is 11%, from eight hours and four minutes to seven hours and 10 minutes. Farhann Cachra, a global commercial strategy director quoted in the report coverage, warned that “personalisation risks becoming isolation, and with it an atomised society”.

Smartphones take 49% of media time among people under 35

The phone is doing most of this. Smartphones account for 34% of commercial media time across all adults and 49% among 16 to 34s. Television sets take 21% of that younger group’s time, down from 32% in 2015. Social media and online video together now make up 49% of what under-35s watch, read and hear commercially. Facebook reaches 51% of British adults weekly and YouTube 48%.

Ad-funded streaming reaches 36% of British adults each week

One number cuts the other way for advertisers. Ad-funded subscription video now reaches 36% of British adults every week. The IPA’s Simon Frazier and Molly Bruce wrote that ads on subscription services once felt counterintuitive, and “today it feels increasingly inevitable”. That matches what the price lists show, after Netflix pushed up UK prices hardest on its ad tier.

Plan for one person and one screen, not a room

Frazier said winning attention “requires more complex strategies and planning, more context-aware creative”. In practice that means writing for someone holding a phone, with sound off and nobody else watching. A joke that needs a second person in the room lands badly. It also means the shrinking commercial reach of broadcast TV is now a planning fact, not a forecast, and the pressure on that side is visible in newsrooms as well: Channel 4 is cutting 340 jobs. Ad-funded streaming and tighter targeting on YouTube are where that lost reach is being rebuilt.