Sky has released its latest Attention Index report, providing a comprehensive overview of how UK audiences engaged with content throughout the second half of 2024. The report shows a continued surge in total content consumption, with viewers spending an extraordinary 16 billion hours across Sky’s platforms. Sports programming was one of the biggest drivers of engagement, accounting for nearly 950 million hours—reflecting the strong demand for live experiences even in an increasingly on-demand environment.
Football in particular remained the most-watched sport, with an 8% year-on-year increase in viewership. Women now represent up to 30% of the Sky Sports audience, signaling progress toward a more gender-diverse sports viewership. "The Formula 1 British Grand Prix" also made headlines, drawing an average of 2.19 million viewers and becoming the most-watched European race to date.
Alongside the rise in live sports viewership, the report uncovered significant shifts in how younger audiences consume news. Podcasts have emerged as a primary channel for current affairs, with nearly half (45%) of under-35s listening to news podcasts weekly. Across all age groups, one in four adults in the UK now rely on podcasts for news, with a third saying they trust podcast content more than traditional news formats. Sky News experienced a 12% increase in podcast listens, totaling 20.4 million in 2024. One standout was the political podcast Electoral Dysfunction, which garnered over 4.5 million listens in the run-up to major elections.
The data also shows that smart TVs dominate as the preferred viewing device, used by 71% of respondents, followed by mobile phones (66%) and computers (50%). This multi-device landscape supports growing on-demand viewership, with series like The Day of the Jackal breaking records—61% of its audience watched the show on demand. The series has since reached 6.2 million viewers, becoming the most successful launch for a new Sky series to date.
The increased appetite for digital media was reflected in broadband usage, which rose by 17% during the period. Sky Broadband customers consumed over 19.1 billion gigabytes of data—the equivalent of streaming the latest Charli XCX album more than 193 billion times. This surge aligns with expanding digital behaviors driven by streaming, gaming, and social media.
National pride in homegrown content was another key insight. More than half of UK adults (52%) said they feel proud when British series perform well internationally. Titles like "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" and "Sweetpea" reached more than 2 million viewers at premiere, reinforcing the global appeal of British storytelling.
The Attention Index positions Sky as both a mirror and a driver of evolving consumer behaviors. From the enduring power of live sports to the rise of podcasts and on-demand content, the findings offer valuable insights for producers, advertisers, and media strategists shaping the future of entertainment.