By the end of November, ITVX has received a record 3.3 billion stream requests, matching last year’s total annual stream figure with a month to go.
ITVX launched in December 2022 in a blaze of publicity. ITV was eager to highlight individual short-term successes, but the service struggled to demonstrate long-term growth in its first two years, flatlining at around or just over 1 billion streams every four months. That began to change at the end of last year.
What’s gone down well with viewers?
Reality content has been a big driver of success in 2025, particularly this year’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Here! which has been popular with younger audiences, attracting its biggest 16-34 profile since 2020, when the pandemic and lockdowns boosted viewing across the board.
Streams to this year’s I’m A Celebrity stand at 95 million, a 24 per cent increase year on year, with increasing numbers of younger viewers coming in boosting the streaming audience year on year. The series tops the charts as one of the most popular programmes of 2025 for younger audiences, with the launch show attracting 2.7 million 16-34s, over a million more 16-34s than the next nearest commercial competitor programme.
Love Island and The Only Way is Essex continue to be top drivers of streams with their combined catalogues and new series attracting just under 400 million streams in 2025.
Lucy Letby: Beyond Reasonable Doubt ranks as ITVX’s most streamed current affairs film of the year. Meanwhile, ITV’s News offering continues to grow on ITVX, with News and Current Affairs streaming hours up +11 per cent year on year.
Film streams are up 26% on last year. ITVX currently offers films including The Grinch, Love Actually, Red One and Jurassic World: Dominion.
Carrot and stick behind ITVX record figures
ITV has also used a carrot and stick approach to get more people using ITVX this year. This includes making more content available first on the streaming service. This has been part of its strategy since the beginning, but ramped up this year with initiatives including ‘Drama Drop Sundays’ and premiering Coronation Street and Emmerdale on ITVX each weekday morning.
The two soaps have now attracted nearly 500 million streams between them so far 2025, up by 30% year-on-year. As a result, it’s clear that ITV’s soap strategy is the one of the main reasons behind ITVX’s surge in streaming requests.
Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of Media and Entertainment, commented:
“ITVX continues to go from strength to strength, and to surpass our full-year streaming record from 2024 in just eleven months is an extraordinary achievement. It’s clear that our strategy of investing in must-see content is paying off, with phenomenal success across our market-leading drama slate, record-breaking reality TV, and the enduring popularity of our soaps. Achieving nearly 10 billion streams since launch with continued accelerated growth solidifies ITVX’s position as the dominant commercial broadcaster video-on-demand streaming service in the UK.”
By: Marc Thornham | Image: ITVX