Welcome to UKOM’s Online Market Overview for September 2026. Using UKOM-endorsed data from Ipsos iris, the OMO provides a top-line snapshot of the UK population’s online behaviour across computers, tablets and smartphones.
Key insights this month include:
- The general news audience peaked at 30m on July 10th, the day police launched a murder inquiry into the death of Ann Widdecombe. August 12th came a close second, driven by the partial solar eclipse. The peak day for time online was July 6th, largely a result of England’s World Cup win over Mexico; on that day news minutes were 23% higher than the month average.
- As the price cap rose again, so did the audience to energy and utility brands online. The category grew by 8.8% between June and September to 26.0m. Octopus Energy added 1.2m visitors, more than any competitor, while EDF Energy (+32%) and challenger Fuse Energy (+61%) grew fastest.
- Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat edged closer in online reach. Just Eat (20%) was slightly ahead in September, followed by Uber Eats (18%) and Deliveroo (15%).
- Just five retail brands (Amazon, Vinted, eBay, Shein and Temu) now take 52% of all time spent on retail sites. Vinted users spent the longest, at 3 hrs 7 mins a month.
- Chinese car manufacturer BYD climbed from 20th to 4th for audience among automotive brands online, overtaking Volkswagen, Tesla and Kia.
- Brand retirements also affected numbers. Lloyds Bank’s audience increased by 4.2m as Halifax’s rebrand boosted visitor numbers while InPost and Royal Mail both had audience uplifts due to Yodel’s demise.
For more information on the UK online market including the top online brands and apps and how usage varies by audience and device, please read or download the whole report below.
More information on Ipsos iris here.
