How much time do people spend online in the UK? Is it increasing, and which companies capture the most attention? We analyzed the latest Ofcom data to answer the questions about time spent online in Britain.
Daily Usage
How Much Time Do UK Adults Spend Online? (2025)
UK adults spend an average of 4 hours 30 minutes online per day. Average daily online time increased by 10 minutes from 2024 to 2025.
18-24 year olds spend 6 hours 20 minutes online daily, up 19 minutes year-on-year. Those aged 65 and over spend 3 hours 20 minutes daily, up 10 minutes.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025, Ipsos iris
Do Women Spend More Time Online Than Men? (2025)
Women spend an average of 4 hours 43 minutes online daily. Men spend 4 hours 17 minutes. Women spend 26 minutes more online per day than men.
Women aged 65 and over spend 17% more time online than their male counterparts, a difference of 32 minutes per day.
35-44 year olds are the only age group showing a decline, down 8 minutes to 4 hours 35 minutes per day.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025, Ipsos iris
Regional Differences
Where in the UK Do People Spend Most Time Online? (2025)
Wales adults spend 4 hours 50 minutes online daily, the highest of any UK nation. Scotland adults spend 4 hours 48 minutes.
England adults spend 4 hours 27 minutes daily. Northern Ireland adults spend 4 hours 28 minutes.
England and Northern Ireland saw 11 and 13 minute increases year-on-year. Wales increased 7 minutes and Scotland 4 minutes.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025, Ipsos iris
Platform Dominance
How Much Time Goes to Google and Meta? (2025)
Alphabet and Meta services account for 51% of all time spent online, totalling 2 hours 18 minutes per day. That is up from 48% in May 2024.
UK adults spend 1 hour 10 minutes on Meta apps and sites per day, up 9 minutes year-on-year from 1 hour 1 minute in 2024.
UK adults spend 1 hour 7 minutes on Alphabet apps and sites per day, up from 1 hour 3 minutes in 2024.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025
How Much Time Do People Spend on TikTok? (2025)
ByteDance (TikTok) time spent is 15 minutes per day across all online adults, up from 13 minutes in 2024.
The next 25% of daily time is now accounted for by 21 organisations, up from 17 the previous year. Attention is becoming more fragmented beyond the top two companies.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025
Devices
How Much Time Goes to Smartphones vs Computers? (2024)
75% of time spent online by UK adults was on smartphones in 2024.
Average time spent online on computers was 32 minutes daily. Average time on tablets was 32 minutes daily.
25-34 year olds spent 83% of their online time on smartphones. Those aged 65 and over spent 56% on smartphones.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2024, Ipsos iris
Are Young People Adding More Smartphone Time? (2025)
18-34 year olds are spending an additional 29 minutes per day on smartphones versus the previous year.
Women spent 77% of their online time on smartphones in 2024, compared to 73% for men. Women aged 25-34 spent 87% of their online time on smartphones.
Sources: Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025, Ofcom Online Nations Report 2024
- [Ofcom Online Nations Report 2025](https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/online-research/online-nation/2025/online-nations-report-2025.pdf)
- [Ofcom Online Nations Report 2024](https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/online-research/online-nation/2024/online-nation-2024-report.pdf)
- Ipsos iris