This is the detail companion page for Latest In The TV Market: May 2025. It expands the May 2025 view with BARB programme data, commercial-channel highlights, market context, public campaign signals, UK news and the next relevant TV planning watch.
Data basis: BARB Weekly Top 50 Shows, 7-day consolidated viewing, using all populated BARB weeks overlapping May 2025: 28 Apr 2025 – 04 May 2025, 05 May 2025 – 11 May 2025, 12 May 2025 – 18 May 2025, 19 May 2025 – 25 May 2025, 26 May 2025 – 01 Jun 2025. The programme tables dedupe repeated strands, so soaps and returning series appear once using their strongest audience across the included weeks. Because BARB reports weekly, some selected weeks cross a calendar-month boundary.
Top 10 Programmes
The strongest deduped programme strands across the available May 2025 BARB weeks were led by Eurovision Song Contest, Race Across the World, Code of Silence. This is a monthly best-of view rather than a list of every high-rating episode.
| Rank | Programme | Broadcaster | Audience | Best Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eurovision Song Contest | BBC | 7.09m | 12 May 2025 – 18 May 2025 |
| 2 | Race Across the World | BBC | 6.38m | 28 Apr 2025 – 04 May 2025 |
| 3 | Code of Silence | ITV | 5.41m | 12 May 2025 – 18 May 2025 |
| 4 | Britain's Got Talent | ITV | 5.29m | 26 May 2025 – 01 Jun 2025 |
| 5 | Beyond Paradise | BBC | 4.97m | 28 Apr 2025 – 04 May 2025 |
| 6 | The 1% Club | ITV | 4.61m | 19 May 2025 – 25 May 2025 |
| 7 | Death Valley | BBC | 4.51m | 19 May 2025 – 25 May 2025 |
| 8 | Coronation Street | ITV | 4.29m | 28 Apr 2025 – 04 May 2025 |
| 9 | Have I Got News for You | BBC | 4.12m | 19 May 2025 – 25 May 2025 |
| 10 | Gogglebox | Channel 4 | 4.05m | 05 May 2025 – 11 May 2025 |
Top 15 Commercial-Channel Programmes
With BBC entries removed, the leading commercial environments were headed by Code of Silence, Britain's Got Talent, The 1% Club. This is the more practical list for spot-TV planning because it removes repeat episodes and shows the strongest commercial or non-BBC programme strands.
| Rank | Programme | Broadcaster | Audience | Best Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Code of Silence | ITV | 5.41m | 12 May 2025 – 18 May 2025 |
| 2 | Britain's Got Talent | ITV | 5.29m | 26 May 2025 – 01 Jun 2025 |
| 3 | The 1% Club | ITV | 4.61m | 19 May 2025 – 25 May 2025 |
| 4 | Coronation Street | ITV | 4.29m | 28 Apr 2025 – 04 May 2025 |
| 5 | Gogglebox | Channel 4 | 4.05m | 05 May 2025 – 11 May 2025 |
| 6 | Emmerdale | ITV | 3.88m | 05 May 2025 – 11 May 2025 |
| 7 | Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad | ITV | 3.31m | 05 May 2025 – 11 May 2025 |
| 8 | The Essex Millionaire Murders | ITV | 2.99m | 28 Apr 2025 – 04 May 2025 |
| 9 | Malpractice | ITV | 2.88m | 28 Apr 2025 – 04 May 2025 |
| 10 | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? | ITV | 2.72m | 19 May 2025 – 25 May 2025 |
| 11 | The Game | Channel 5 | 2.71m | 12 May 2025 – 18 May 2025 |
| 12 | 99 to Beat | ITV | 2.57m | 05 May 2025 – 11 May 2025 |
| 13 | ITV Evening News | ITV | 2.42m | 05 May 2025 – 11 May 2025 |
| 14 | Taskmaster | Channel 4 | 2.31m | 28 Apr 2025 – 04 May 2025 |
| 15 | The Piano | Channel 4 | 2.30m | 19 May 2025 – 25 May 2025 |
Market Insight
May is a run-in month to summer. Entertainment, soaps and factual formats still provide dependable scale, while advertisers start to look at travel, retail, leisure and sports-adjacent opportunities.
Across this period, the useful planning frame is total TV rather than linear alone: linear still provides fast reach, while BVOD and connected TV help add targeting, frequency control and lighter-viewer coverage. Public market context can be tracked through IPA Bellwether, Thinkbox and broadcaster trading updates.
Public Campaign Signals
May campaign activity usually leans into summer menus, travel, grocery, retail, drinks, betting where compliant, and entertainment launches. Late-copy flexibility becomes more useful as weather and sport start to influence demand.
This section is deliberately based on public campaign and category signals only. It does not use private spot logs, client data or internal monitoring sources.
Political And Economic Background
Local and national politics can make the mood more fragmented. Campaigns should keep the message practical and avoid assuming one national consumer mindset.
For the wider economic read, the most useful public references are the ONS inflation releases and the Bank of England monetary policy updates. The TV buying implication is consistent: when consumers feel pressure, creative needs to make the benefit easy to understand.
UK News And Weather
Warmer weather can lift outdoor, travel, garden, grocery and leisure response, but it can also fragment viewing. Planning should keep both audience delivery and short-term response in view.
The Met Office weather and climate updates are a useful public reference for understanding when weather may have shifted viewing patterns or short-term response.
Upcoming TV Planning Watch
The near-term watch is June: summer travel, festival season, school-holiday planning, tennis build-up and stronger outdoor and leisure demand. TV plans should allow for weather-led optimisation and make sure BVOD or connected TV is available where linear viewing starts to soften.
Sources
- BARB Weekly Top 50 Shows, C7 public dashboard data, weeks used: 28 Apr 2025 – 04 May 2025, 05 May 2025 – 11 May 2025, 12 May 2025 – 18 May 2025, 19 May 2025 – 25 May 2025, 26 May 2025 – 01 Jun 2025.
- IPA Bellwether reports.
- Thinkbox commercial TV research and planning resources.
- ONS inflation releases.
- Bank of England monetary policy updates.
- Met Office weather and climate updates.
- FIFA World Cup 2026.