Virgin Media and O2 Reveal UK Broadband and Mobile Traffic Trends for 2024

Network operator Virgin Media and O2 (VMO2) has today revealed some insights from their network, which among other things shows that they recorded an 8.1% rise in broadband usage (a new record) and a 9% uplift in mobile data traffic year-on-year. But that’s not all.

Naturally, online video gaming was the main contributor to the growth in data usage on their fixed broadband ISP network, with four of the five busiest days aligned with ‘Call of Duty‘ launches (i.e. this reflects the downloading of new updates, rather than actual gameplay). Traffic peaked in the first week of December when six Premier League games were streamed on Amazon Prime, but VMO2 didn’t provide any stats for this.

The statistics are all a bit vague and represent somewhat of a shotgun blast of information, which we’ve simplified below via a bullet-pointed summary. Jeanie York, CTO at VMO2, said: “It was another record-breaking year across our mobile and fixed networks, as our customers continue to use more data than ever before. To meet this growing demand, we are continuing to invest and innovate.”

Key Stats from VMO2’s Fixed and Mobile Networks in 2024

➤ Broadband data suggests Brits are increasingly getting an early night, with the data showing how the nation is going to bed 20 minutes earlier than in recent years, with network traffic consistently starting to drop off from 9:20pm. In comparison, 2020 traffic shows a later bedtime, with Brits beginning to go offline from 9:40pm.

➤ The nation is also getting up earlier; 2024 morning traffic began to rapidly rise from 6:20am, fifteen minutes earlier than in 2020.

➤ Some 34% of Brits point to the news as negatively impacting their mental health in 2024, while 44% have increased their mindfulness practices and 62% have used their mobile phone to access mindfulness apps. This rose to 88% of 18–24-year-olds.

➤ Broadband data shows that Andy Murray’s final appearance gave Wimbledon a 12% audience boost compared to 2023.

➤ 90% of Virgin Media broadband households tuned into the Euro 2024 tournament over the summer.

➤ The busiest hours on O2’s mobile network came during England’s games with Denmark and the Netherlands, while the Olympics and Paralympics were considered the biggest TV moment of the year by a third of Brits.

➤ 83% of the nation enjoyed TV dramas inspired by true events and scandal, with Mr Bates vs The Post Office the most memorable, closely followed by Netflix breakout hit Baby Reindeer.

➤ BBC iPlayer retained its top spot as most popular app for Virgin Media TV customers, up 8% on 2023, while Netflix took 32% of all streaming traffic as the most viewed on-demand app. YouTube is now the fastest growing app on Virgin Media TV across audience size and total hours viewed.

➤ Commuting increased in 2024, with 48% of Brits heading to the office five days a week. The most popular day of the week to commute was Wednesday, with 74% of Brits making the journey to work.

➤ Many workers say they found the office more productive than working from home (46%), better for connecting with colleagues (42%) and say they provide a boost to physical wellbeing (37%). Over the summer, Gen Z workers had the biggest increase in office trips (12%) indicating a summer of post-work social plans.