Britons spend more on paid-for TV than friends or family

As a nation we spend more on paid-for TV services such as Sky and Virgin than we do on friends and family, according to the latest research from Standard Life.

Britons spend an average of £39 per month for TV viewing, adding up to £468 a year.

Men aged 45-54 spend the most of any age group, spending on average £43 per month or £516 a year.

To put that into perspective, those of us paying TV subscriptions admit we spend more on that each month than we do on our parents (£11), partners (£37) and friends (£10).

Almost half of us (47%) pay a subscription for our TV services, rising to almost three in five men (59%) aged 35-44.

One in eight of us (13%) have paid for TV services for more than 15 years. And 40% believe they will continue paying for subscription TV for more than 20 years.

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Andy Clough

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.