Rising. In Dubit's tracking of young people in Great Britain aged from toddlers to late teens, every UK broadcaster brand was better known in Q2 2026 than in the survey's previous round. BBC One rose from 38% to 49% and ITV from 32% to 42%. Daily use went the other way: BBC iPlayer's fell from 16% to 11% over the same period, measured among those aware of or eligible for the brand.1
The commercial brands moved with the BBC and ITV. Channel 4 rose from 30% in the previous wave to 38% in Q2 2026, and Sky from 40% to 47%. The American channels made for young audiences went the other way. Cartoon Network fell from 36% to 31% and Nickelodeon from 41% to 39%. Which brands lead on recognition in Q2 2026, by age and by gender, is on our page about which TV and video brands children know.
Daily use fell for other broadcasters too. Sky's daily use fell from 21% to 16% between the two waves, ITV's from 13% to 9.4% and CBBC's from 11% to 6.8%. Dubit's report reads the rise in awareness as a floor to build on. It is not proof that a content strategy is working, because the viewing measure moved the other way. Its likeliest reading is that the brand names travel further than the schedules behind them.
How often do children actually watch the broadcasters?
Far less often than YouTube: among young people in Great Britain aware of each brand, 59.6% use YouTube every day and 13.4% BBC One.2 Sky/Sky Sports is used daily by 16%, CBeebies by 10.2%, ITV by 9.4%, CBBC by 6.8% and Channel 4 by 2.7%.
The BBC's reach sits in weekly use. BBC iPlayer is used every week by 33% and BBC One by 27%.
Age pulls the two apart. BBC iPlayer's daily use falls from 25% in the youngest age band to 5.4% in the oldest. YouTube runs the other way, used every day by 57% of the youngest and 61% of the oldest.
Footnotes
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Dubit's broadcaster-awareness tracking of children in Great Britain, from toddlers to late teens, comparing the Q2 2026 wave with the wave before it. In Q2 2026, each brand's daily use is a share of those aware of or eligible for that brand, not of every respondent (footnote 2). ↩
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Same survey, Q2 2026 wave, Great Britain, children from toddlers to late teens, weighted base 1,211. Each brand's frequency of use is a share of those aware of or eligible for that brand, not of every respondent. ↩
