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Business, social and emailUK adult reach of social media platforms, May 2025
YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp each reach at least nine in ten UK online adults in a month, with Instagram at 78%. Reddit and TikTok have grown fastest since 2023, while X has lost almost five million monthly UK adult visitors.
Key findings
- YouTube reached 94% of UK online adults (46.3 million) in May 2025, the highest of any social or video platform.
- Reddit's monthly UK adult audience almost doubled from 15.6 million in May 2023 to 29.4 million in May 2025, putting it ahead of TikTok (27.3 million).
- X fell from 24.0 million UK adult visitors in May 2023 to 19.3 million in May 2025, reaching 39% of online adults.
The data
| Platform | UK online adult reach, May 2025 (%) | UK adults reached, May 2025 (millions) | UK adults reached, May 2023 (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 94 | 46.3 | 43.6 |
| Facebook / Messenger | 93 | 45.9 | 43.9 |
| 90 | 44.2 | 40.9 | |
| 78 | 38.5 | 34.7 | |
| 60 | 29.4 | 15.6 | |
| TikTok | 56 | 27.3 | 21.2 |
| X | 39 | 19.3 | 24 |
| 38 | 18.4 | 18.9 | |
| 26 | 12.6 | 12.5 | |
| Snapchat | 23 | 11.1 | 10.3 |
Use this data
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Sources and method
- Ofcom, Online Nation 2025 report (published 10 December 2025) (Figure 22 (top ten social media and VSP sites/apps) and Figure 27 (messaging services, for WhatsApp); underlying data Ipsos iris, May 2023 and May 2025, age 18+, UK internet users)
Monthly reach and total adult audience were copied from Figure 22 for the social media and video sharing platforms, and from Figure 27 for WhatsApp, which Ofcom classes as a messaging service. Quora, tenth in Figure 22, was left out to keep the list to recognised social platforms.
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