Audience research
ONS, NRS and Ofcom data for a Scottish social media agency brief: population, YouTube reach and daily viewing
Named data for a Scottish social media agency brief: NRS population of 5,545,500, Glasgow and Edinburgh sizes, Ofcom Scotland YouTube reach and viewing.
What to take away
- Scotland's population was estimated at 5,545,500 at mid-2025, so Scottish reach targets need their own denominator.
- Glasgow City (654,330) and City of Edinburgh (531,370) are the two largest council areas for local sizing.
- In Scotland, 61% of individuals aged 4 and over watched at least 3 minutes of YouTube per week at home in 2024, and 68% of adults aged 16 to 34.
- People in Scotland spent 44 minutes a day on YouTube, the highest of the four nations.
- Ofcom measures in-home viewing, so treat the numbers as benchmarks, not platform audience counts.
The named datasets and the figures they give
A Scottish brief needs three kinds of number: how many people, how they spend time on video platforms, and where the data stops. The table lists the sources used here.
| Dataset | Publisher | Figure for Scotland |
|---|---|---|
| Mid-2025 population estimates | National Records of Scotland | 5,545,500 people |
| Council area estimates, 2025 | National Records of Scotland | Glasgow City 654,330, City of Edinburgh 531,370, Fife 373,990 |
| Population estimates, UK, mid-2024 | ONS | UK total 69,281,400 |
| Media Nations: Scotland 2025 | Ofcom | 5 hours 4 minutes of video at home per day in 2024 |
| Media Nations: Scotland 2025 | Ofcom | YouTube reach 61% of individuals 4+, 68% of adults 16 to 34 |
| Media Nations: Scotland 2025 | Ofcom | 44 minutes a day on YouTube |
Population denominators
The NRS mid-2025 estimates put Scotland's population at 5,545,500 on 30 June 2025. The same release revised the mid-2024 figure from 5,546,900 to 5,543,300.
Glasgow City had the highest population at 654,330, followed by City of Edinburgh at 531,370 and then Fife at 373,990. In mid-2025, an estimated 21.0% of the population were aged 65 and over, which matters when a brief targets younger adults.
The ONS estimate for the UK at mid-2024 is 69,281,400. Illustrative arithmetic: 5,543,300 divided by 69,281,400 is about 8.0%, so Scotland is roughly one twelfth of the UK, and one per cent of the Scottish population is about 55,455 people.
What Ofcom shows about video platforms
In Scotland, people watched on average 5 hours 4 minutes of video content at home per day in 2024. People in Scotland spent more time viewing content on video-sharing platforms than in any other nation, watching for just under an hour each day, up 3 minutes on 2023.
The Media Nations: Scotland 2025 report names YouTube as the top-performing video-sharing platform, with a 14% share of in-home viewing.
In 2024, 61% of individuals aged 4 and over in Scotland watched at least 3 minutes of YouTube per week in the home, across all devices. That rose to 68% among adults aged 16 to 34. Individuals in Scotland spent 44 minutes per day on average viewing YouTube, the highest of all four nations.
Half of adults and teens in Scotland reported watching music on YouTube (51%), the most popular type of content in the survey. Use that when you brief a creative team.
Limits of the data
The reach figures come from Barb as-viewed data for all devices using the home's WiFi network, with a reach criterion of 3 or more consecutive minutes. That excludes viewing outside the home and does not cover other platforms.
The Scottish figures used here cover YouTube only. For TikTok, Instagram or LinkedIn, do not invent a Scottish reach. Ask the platform for audience counts in the target geography and log the gap against the Ofcom benchmark. Commission audience research when a gap matters to the plan.
Example: sizing a Glasgow and Edinburgh test
This is illustrative arithmetic. It applies the Scottish YouTube weekly reach of 61% to two council areas, although the Ofcom figure is for Scotland as a whole and not for any council area.
| Area | Population | At 61% | Rounded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glasgow City | 654,330 | 654,330 times 0.61 | About 399,000 |
| City of Edinburgh | 531,370 | 531,370 times 0.61 | About 324,000 |
Treat the result as a ceiling for weekly YouTube viewers in the home, not as campaign reach. The ratio between ceiling and booked impressions is a number to agree in the social media agency brief.
Using the numbers in a brief
- Take the population for each target council area from NRS.
- Apply the Scottish Ofcom reach figure and label the result an estimate.
- Check the target audience definition against the age band in the Ofcom data.
- Set reporting targets in the key metrics set and note which come from Scottish data and which from UK data.
- Fit the result into the channel strategy, and keep a benchmark research file with release dates.
Checklist
- Source, release date and table named beside every figure.
- Scottish figures kept apart from UK figures.
- Council area estimates used for local targets.
- Ofcom in-home measurement limits stated in the brief.
- Platform audience counts requested for any platform Ofcom does not cover.
Common questions
Does Ofcom give Scottish TikTok or Instagram figures?
The figures used here are for YouTube. For other platforms, ask the platform for geography-level audience counts.
Which population year should I use?
Use the latest National Records of Scotland estimate, here mid-2025, and note the year. Mix years only when you label the difference.
Can I apply a Scottish rate to a council area?
Only as an estimate. The Ofcom reach is for Scotland as a whole, so the council result is a ceiling and should be labelled that way.
