This is the detail companion page for Latest In The TV Market: December 2025. It expands the December 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 December 2025: 01 Dec 2025 – 07 Dec 2025, 08 Dec 2025 – 14 Dec 2025, 15 Dec 2025 – 21 Dec 2025, 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 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 December 2025 BARB weeks were led by Strictly Come Dancing, I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, Amandaland. This is a monthly best-of view rather than a list of every high-rating episode.
| Rank | Programme | Broadcaster | Audience | Best Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strictly Come Dancing | BBC | 8.49m | 15 Dec 2025 – 21 Dec 2025 |
| 2 | I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! | ITV | 8.26m | 01 Dec 2025 – 07 Dec 2025 |
| 3 | Amandaland | BBC | 7.07m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 4 | The Scarecrow's Wedding | BBC | 6.43m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 5 | The King | BBC | 6.42m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 6 | Call the Midwife | BBC | 6.15m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 7 | Death in Paradise | BBC | 6.10m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 8 | Celebrity Race Across the World | BBC | 5.77m | 08 Dec 2025 – 14 Dec 2025 |
| 9 | The 1% Club | ITV | 5.44m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 10 | Have I Got News for You | BBC | 5.37m | 08 Dec 2025 – 14 Dec 2025 |
Top 15 Commercial-Channel Programmes
With BBC entries removed, the leading commercial environments were headed by I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, The 1% Club, The Great British Bake Off. 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 | I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! | ITV | 8.26m | 01 Dec 2025 – 07 Dec 2025 |
| 2 | The 1% Club | ITV | 5.44m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 3 | The Great British Bake Off: Festive Specials | Channel 4 | 5.15m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 4 | Coronation Street | ITV | 4.31m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 5 | The Royal Variety Performance | ITV | 4.09m | 15 Dec 2025 – 21 Dec 2025 |
| 6 | The Chase Celebrity Special | ITV | 4.04m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 7 | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? | ITV | 3.91m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 8 | Emmerdale | ITV | 3.76m | 15 Dec 2025 – 21 Dec 2025 |
| 9 | The Masked Singer | ITV | 3.69m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 10 | The 1% Club Rollover | ITV | 3.57m | 08 Dec 2025 – 14 Dec 2025 |
| 11 | Big Fat Quiz | Channel 4 | 3.55m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 12 | 24 Hours in Police Custody | Channel 4 | 3.21m | 08 Dec 2025 – 14 Dec 2025 |
| 13 | Accidental Tourist | ITV | 3.17m | 08 Dec 2025 – 14 Dec 2025 |
| 14 | All Creatures Great and Small | Channel 5 | 3.09m | 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 2025 |
| 15 | Inside M&S | ITV | 3.03m | 15 Dec 2025 – 21 Dec 2025 |
Market Insight
December is emotionally rich but commercially compressed. Christmas advertising, grocery, retail, entertainment and end-of-year news all compete for attention.
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
Public activity is led by supermarkets, retail, gifting, entertainment, delivery, travel, charities and finance. The best TV campaigns are distinctive enough to be remembered after a crowded ad break.
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
Public attention can shift quickly between festive spending, public services and year-end political stories. Advertisers should keep messages warm but grounded.
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
Winter weather usually supports in-home viewing, but delivery disruption and travel conditions can affect response. Retail and delivery claims need to stay realistic.
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 next watch is the January reset: sales, travel, finance, fitness, subscriptions, insurance and household budgeting. Advertisers should use December learnings to decide what can keep running, what needs a sharper response message and what should pause until audiences return to normal routines.
Sources
- BARB Weekly Top 50 Shows, C7 public dashboard data, weeks used: 01 Dec 2025 – 07 Dec 2025, 08 Dec 2025 – 14 Dec 2025, 15 Dec 2025 – 21 Dec 2025, 22 Dec 2025 – 28 Dec 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.
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