TV licence fee statistics

Summary

This briefing provides statistics on the TV licence fee and general television viewing trends. The Licence fee concessions and payment amounts are set by Parliament under the Communications (Television Licencing) Regulations 2004 (as amended). As stated by TV Licencing:

“It is an offence to watch or record television programmes as they are being shown on any channel and on any broadcast platform (terrestrial, satellite, cable and the internet) or download or watch BBC programmes on demand, including catch up TV, on BBC iPlayer without a valid TV Licence”

Currently the annual TV licence fee is £174.50 for colour and £58.50 for a black and white.

Key points

Licence fee revenues were under £3.7 billion in 2024

TV License fee revenues in 2023/24 were £3.66 billion which was lower than the 2022/23 figure of £3.74 billion (in cash terms). 

The licence fee accounted for 68% of BBC funding in 2023/24

Total BBC income in 2023/24 was £5.39 billion, 68% of which came from the licence fee revenues. The remaining 32% or £1.73 billion came from commercial and other activities (such as grants, royalties and rental income).

Estimated TV licence evasion rate rose from 6.95% in 2019/20 to 11.30% in 2023/24

The BBC estimates that the evasion rate rose from 10.58% in 2022/23 to 11.30% in 2023/24. The main drivers for this increase have been attributed to changing viewing habits, a slowing of household growth and cost of living pressures

The TV Licence fee in the UK was the 4th highest compared to other countries in Europe

The TV Licence fee amount in the UK was ranked 4th highest by the European Broadcasting Union compared to other European countries as of January 2024. The average fee paid in EU countries was 116 Euros.

Additional information

The data for this publication can be found in our downloadable Excel file above. Full source details are available in the briefing paper PDF and Excel file. Please get in touch with us at papers@parliament.uk if you would like to access the data in a different format.

Detailed information about TV licence fee collection, concessions and complaints is available on the TV licencing website.