Movie viewing spans theatrical admissions, at-home film reach and television-screen streaming. The measures below cover Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, with survey results and observed TV-usage data kept distinct.
Key Movie Viewing Statistics
The most useful headline measures are:
- In 2023, 861 million cinema admissions were recorded across Wider Europe.
- In 2023, European cinema admissions rose 18.3% in Wider Europe.
- In 2023, European admissions reached 77.3% of the pre-pandemic average in Wider Europe.
- In 2023, European box office reached EUR6.7 billion in Wider Europe.
- In 2023, EU27 plus UK admissions reached 784 million.
- In 2023, 13,796 feature films were screened across Wider Europe.
- In 2023, European films held a 26.4% share of the Wider European market.
- In 2024, UK cinema admissions reached 126.5 million.
- In 2024, UK box office reached GBP979 million.
- In 2024, UK revenue per admission was GBP7.74.
- In 2022, 90% of the UK population reached by the survey watched films.
- In 2022, UK adults watched an average of 30.4 films in Wave III.
- In 2022, streaming reached 59% of the UK survey population.
- In 2022, digital viewing rose 19% in the UK survey population.
- In 2022, traditional viewing fell 37% in the UK survey population.
- In 2022, Hollywood reached 57% of the UK survey population.
- In June 2024, streaming accounted for 40.3% of total US TV usage.
- In June 2024, YouTube accounted for 9.9% of total US TV usage.
Contents
- European cinema attendance and market scale
- UK cinema statistics, box office and ticket costs
- UK film reach and annual viewing frequency
- UK viewing-channel adoption and digital trends
- UK audience profile and content preferences
- US TV-screen streaming and movie-viewing environment
European Cinema Attendance and Market Scale
The European Audiovisual Observatory reported a substantial theatrical recovery in 2023, while still placing admissions below the pre-pandemic benchmark. Its Wider Europe figures are survey-based and should be read as self-reported measures.
| Wider Europe measure | 2023 result |
|---|---|
| Cinema admissions | 861 million |
| Change in admissions | 18.3% increase |
| Share of pre-pandemic average | 77.3% |
| Benchmark | 1.1 billion tickets per year |
| Box office | EUR6.7 billion |
Source: GBO in Europe up to EUR 6.7 billion in 2023, cinema attendance reached 861 million tickets sold. These figures use a self-reported survey measure.
The narrower EU27 plus UK grouping recorded 784 million admissions in 2023, a 19.6% increase, while remaining 20.1% below its baseline. Box office for that grouping was EUR6.2 billion, so the two geographic scopes should not be treated as interchangeable.
The market also included 13,796 screened feature films. Fourteen films exceeded 10 million tickets and 113 exceeded 1 million admissions, showing that a relatively small group of releases reached very large theatrical audiences.
| 2023 title or category | Wider Europe admissions or share |
|---|---|
| Barbie | 49.3 million tickets |
| Mario | 36.1 million tickets |
| Oppenheimer | 35.1 million tickets |
| Avatar 2 | 34.4 million admissions |
| Asterix | 6.4 million admissions |
| European films | 26.4% market share |
The source reports Mario for the measured population and reports Avatar 2 as 2023 admissions. These are title-level results within the 2023 Wider Europe measure, not forecasts.
Source: GBO in Europe up to EUR 6.7 billion in 2023, cinema attendance reached 861 million tickets sold.
UK Cinema Statistics: Admissions, Box Office and Ticket Costs
The British Film Institute recorded 126.5 million UK cinema admissions in 2024, up 2% in the measured population. That remained 28% below 2019, indicating that the annual improvement did not restore the earlier level.
UK box office was GBP979 million in 2024, 22% below 2019, and reported revenue per admission was GBP7.74. The revenue figure is an average reported by the source, not a universal ticket price for every cinema, format or customer.
| UK cinema measure | 2024 result |
|---|---|
| Admissions | 126.5 million |
| Year-on-year change | 2% increase |
| Difference from 2019 | 28% below |
| Box office | GBP979 million |
| Difference from 2019 | 22% below |
| Revenue per admission | GBP7.74 |
Source: Official BFI statistics for 2024 reveal £5.6 billion film and high-end television production spend in the UK. The supplied BFI measure is self-reported survey data.
The final quarter accounted for 37.2 million UK admissions. Wicked held 17% of Q4 box office, while Moana 2 and Paddington each held 11% in the measured population, making the quarter’s market concentrated among several prominent releases.
UK Film Viewing Reach and Annual Frequency
The BFI’s Wave III research describes film viewing across channels rather than cinema alone. In 2022, film reach was 90% among the UK survey population, and UK adults watched an average of 30.4 films.
| UK viewing measure | Wave III, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Film reach | 90% |
| Average films watched by adults | 30.4 |
| Cinema reach | 41% |
| Streaming reach | 59% |
| Broadcast reach | 51% |
Source: Watching films in the UK: How often, how many and how?. These are self-reported survey measures from Wave III, not admissions counts or an estimate of all film plays.
The reach figures describe the share of the survey population engaging with each channel during the research period. Because people can use more than one channel, cinema, streaming and broadcast percentages should not be added together.
Cinema average viewing was 1.7 films in the same research. That measure is distinct from the 126.5 million UK admissions reported for 2024 because it comes from a 2022 survey and describes individual viewing behavior rather than a later national admissions total.
UK Viewing-Channel Adoption and Digital Trends
The Wave III results show a shift toward digital ways of watching films. Digital viewing rose 19% in the measured UK population, while traditional viewing fell 37%.
More than 10% of the survey population watched exclusively on streaming, and more than 10% watched exclusively on broadcast. Cinema-only viewers represented 5%, underscoring that film audiences commonly span multiple channels rather than staying within a single outlet.
| Viewing pattern | UK Wave III result, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Digital viewing change | 19% increase |
| Traditional viewing change | 37% decrease |
| Streaming-only viewers | More than 10% |
| Broadcast-only viewers | More than 10% |
| Cinema-only viewers | 5% |
Source: Watching films in the UK: How often, how many and how?. The source uses self-reported survey measures, and “more than 10%” is retained without converting it into an unsupported exact percentage.
These results measure adoption and viewing patterns in the UK research population, not subscription counts or the number of titles available on any service. They also do not establish that every digital viewing was a feature film watched from start to finish.
UK Audience Profile and Film Content Preferences
The UK research separates Hollywood and UK-film reach across cinema and at-home viewing. Overall Hollywood reach was 57% in 2022, compared with 45% for UK films in the measured population.
| Content and setting | Reach in UK Wave III, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Hollywood overall | 57% |
| UK film overall | 45% |
| Hollywood in cinema | 60% |
| UK film in cinema | 18% |
| Hollywood at home | 54% |
| UK film at home | 48% |
Source: Watching films in the UK: How often, how many and how?. All entries are self-reported reach measures for the survey population.
The setting-specific figures are not direct attendance shares. They indicate the proportion reached by the relevant content in cinema or at home, and the at-home and cinema categories describe different viewing contexts.
US TV-Screen Streaming and Movie-Viewing Environment
Nielsen’s The Gauge provides an observed measure of television-screen use in the United States, not a movie-only total. For the measurement interval 05/27/2024–06/30/2024, streaming accounted for 40.3% of total TV usage in June 2024, up 6% from May.
| US TV-screen measure | June 2024 result |
|---|---|
| Streaming share of total TV usage | 40.3% |
| Month-over-month streaming change | 6% increase |
| YouTube share of total TV usage | 9.9% |
| Netflix share of total TV usage | 8.4% |
| Cable feature-film viewing change | About 6% increase from May |
Source: Time Spent Streaming Surges to Over 40% in June. Nielsen The Gauge measures broadcast, cable and streaming consumption through a television screen; it is not a movie-only measure.
YouTube reached 9.9% of total TV usage in June, its high-water mark in the report, while Netflix’s June share was 8.4%. The YouTube result refers to YouTube viewed on television, not total YouTube use and not movie-only viewing.
Cable feature-film viewing increased about 6% from May in June. That change applies to the cable feature-film genre reported by Nielsen, not to all movie viewing or every screen.