IPA: 36% of Britons Now Watch Ad-Funded Streaming Weekly as Ad Tiers Become 'Increasingly Inevitable'

The IPA's Making Sense 2026 report finds 36% of British adults now use ad-funded commercial SVOD services every week, a figure its authors expect to keep rising as ad tiers become a standard feature rather than a step-down option. Premium video's share of curated commercial media time has fallen from 46% in 2015 to 37% in 2026, commercial linear TV's share among 16-34s has collapsed from 32% to 7%, and solo consumption of commercial media has risen to 44% — 46% among younger viewers — a fragmentation the report says undermines advertising's shared-attention effect.