Further detail: May 2025 TV market detail page | TV Market Update hub.
May 2025: final editorial review
- Eurovision Song Contest – BBC – 14.2m
- Race Across the World – BBC – 13.7m
- Code of Silence – ITV – 12.2m
- Death Valley – BBC – 10.7m
- Britain’s Got Talent – ITV – 10.7m
- The 1% Club – ITV – 9.5m
- Coronation Street – ITV – 8.7m
- Have I Got News for You – BBC – 8.5m
- Gogglebox – Channel 4 – 8.4m
- Doctor Who – BBC – 8.1m
May mixed big BBC cultural moments with a useful commercial spine. Eurovision and Race Across the World dominated attention, but Code of Silence on ITV was the key buyable drama signal, supported by Britain’s Got Talent, The 1% Club, Coronation Street and Channel 4’s Gogglebox. That gave advertisers a decent blend of launch drama, entertainment and returnable factual-entertainment audiences.
Campaigns naturally leaned into travel, drinks, grocery, entertainment, retail and pre-summer leisure. Local elections, VE Day 80 and Eurovision all competed for attention, while warm spring weather made audience behaviour less fixed. This was exactly where BVOD could help: not as a cheap substitute for linear, but as a way to reach viewers who were not always sitting down at the scheduled time.
The buying read: use ITV drama and BGT for scale, Channel 4 for engaged younger/family-adjacent audiences, and BVOD to smooth frequency. May was a month to build salience before summer fragmented attention further.
May 2025 was a month for looking at TV as a buying market, not just a viewing habit. The useful question for advertisers was where commercial attention could still be bought with confidence, and where demand was likely to push pricing up.
Commercial programming and viewing
May was a stronger entertainment and sport month, with ITV formats, Sky Sports football, Channel 4 factual and Channel 5 factual entertainment giving advertisers commercially accessible scale. As summer approached, the job was to identify programmes with attentive audiences before holiday and outdoor behaviour diluted some viewing.
Advertiser and category movement
Travel, drinks, retail, food, betting where appropriate, automotive and entertainment brands all had reasons to compete. Agencies were also looking ahead to summer and Q4, which meant May plans often had to do both: deliver immediate response and create memory structures before heavier seasonal bursts.
Broadcaster, agency and platform news
The wider market was preparing for more broadcaster collaboration in premium video. The direction of travel was clear: commercial broadcasters needed easier access, better measurement and simpler buying routes to defend budgets from global digital platforms.
Cost of TV and buying conditions
May demand was patchier than Q4 but firmer than the early-year value window. Premium football and high-profile entertainment carried pressure. Better value sat in smart station mixes, BVOD frequency controls and packages that used broadcaster portfolios rather than single-channel thinking.
Media buying view
- Use May to build pre-summer salience before seasonal attention fragments.
- Avoid treating BVOD as an afterthought; cap frequency and measure incremental reach.
- Book sport and entertainment early, then use flexible airtime for efficiency.