Sky launches ‘The Attention Index’, a new report, tracking how people watch and connect in the UK

• Sky has published its first ‘Attention Index’, revealing how the UK has been watching TV and staying connected over the past six months
• Our customers create billions of interactions with Sky and each other when they use our services - from January to June 2024:

◦ Over two billion hours of content made by Sky have been watched

◦ Customers have spent one billion hours watching Sky Sports

◦ 15 million people have viewed Sky News broadcasts

◦ Sky Broadband customers used over 19 billion GB of data

◦ Hundreds of millions of gigabytes of mobile data was consumed by Sky Mobile customers

A new report from Sky reveals what is grabbing our attention in today's information-rich world. From the big screens in living rooms, to the small screens in our pockets, Sky connects millions of people to the content they can’t stop watching.

These millions of interactions provide an insight into where people are focusing their attention, how people watch TV and how they stay connected. Coupled with a survey of over 3,000 people, this data forms Sky’s new ‘Attention Index’.

Entertainment that keeps the UK gripped

Time spent watching TV is higher than ever in Sky homes, outside of lockdown.  On average, Sky customers watch over four and a half hours of TV every day. One third of the TV they watch is made by Sky, including all our world-class sports, news, entertainment and movies.

The report shows that Sky Original productions, such as Mary & George, are performing better than ever before. The Sky Original, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, has had 6.8 million hours of viewing since launching in May, and every episode has been watched by at least 1.3 million people.  

Watching content when we want it

The ability to catch up on TV means that people don’t feel the need to watch so many genres ‘live’. This has driven an increase in on demand content, such as Season 4 of True Detective, which has had 10 million viewing hours since it launched on Sky in January 2024, 46% of which was on demand. This compares starkly to True Detective Season One which launched on Sky ten years ago and at the time received 9% of viewing via on demand. 

 CuriosiTV

Whether what we’re watching is live or on demand, we’re still a nation of multitaskers when viewing - three in five of (63%) are doing something else whilst we watch TV. Two in five (41%) are actually searching about the TV show as they watch, leading to surges in Google traffic.

• Searches were up 164% for Mary and George Villiers, the main characters of Mary and George, the month of launch vs the previous month. 
• Searches for Auschwitz in the UK increased by 107% in line with The Tattooist of Auschwitz airing on Sky – with over 230,000 searches in the month of launch, the highest in 20 years.  

Brits love of sport

Overall, viewing of Sky Sports was up 17% in 2023. Over the last six months, sports fans watched a staggering one billion hours of sport on Sky. Our audience is expanding too - in 2023, female viewing of Sky Sports was up 18% and under 35 viewing was up 26%.

Some of sports that have been capturing the attention of people across the UK, include: 

• Football remains at the heart of our sporting culture

◦ In total, 313 million hours of live football were watched by Sky viewers from January to June

◦ Across the Premier League, English Football League, Scottish Professional Football League and Women’s Super League, viewership was up 9% in the 23/24 season

◦ Football is also the single biggest driver in traffic for Sky Mobile

• Darts is expanding its fan base across the country

◦ The PDC World Darts Championship final enjoyed a 204% increase in viewing, with average viewing for the final at 3.1 million

◦ Outside of football, it was the most-watched event in Sky Sports history

◦ With Luke Littler becoming one of the most watched individuals on Sky Sports web and app with average views across his videos reaching 23.6k – more than Harry Kane (12.5k) and Erling Haaland  (19.2k).

◦ Premier League Darts viewership was up 189% this year, cementing darts' status as a thrilling spectator sport.

Dana Strong, Group CEO, Sky: “This report shows that as our viewing habits become more fractured, the competition for our attention is even greater. With UK households watching over two billion hours of content made by Sky, we’re proud of the role that we play in bringing entertainment content and sporting moments to millions of viewers.” 

In addition to data from the worlds of entertainment and sport, The Attention Index takes a look and trends across connectivity and news, shining a light on how we’re spending our time and focusing our attention.