Television consumption habits have changed dramatically in recent years. With streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Max and Disney+ comprising a growing share of today's TV landscape—and with other media companies jumping on the streaming bandwagon with their own digital offerings every year—traditional TV usage is now fading out as a source of entertainment and information.
According to a recent forecast by Internet statistics company Statista, traditional TV is particularly losing audiences among younger adults.
According to Statista, 50 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 to 24 said they don't watch any traditional TV at all, which includes broadcast, cable and satellite TV. Similarly, 46 percent of those in the U.S. between the ages of 25-34 said they don't watch traditional TV. 43 percent of Americans between the ages of 35-44 also reported that they don't watch TV, and 38 percent of Americans between the ages of 45-54 don't watch TV.
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| Share of Americans who say they don't watch traditional TV. |
On the other hand, only 29 percent of Americans between the ages of 55 to 64 claim they don't watch traditional TV. In other words, traditional TV is now an older American’s medium, and the older you are, the more likely you are to watch TV. (Americans ages 65 and older were not included in the survey data.)
Nielsen data earlier this year discovered that the average U.S. adult spends about 33 hours each week watching TV. According to Nielsen, Americans aged 18 to 34 watch less than five hours TV per week, on average, while those 65 and older watch more than 40 hours each week. This means that Americans aged 65 and older now watch approximately eight times as much traditional TV as young Americans.
In July, Statista reported that streaming now accounts for 40 percent of total TV usage in the U.S., while cable accounts for 27 percent and broadcast makes up 21 percent.
Statista surveyed 10,000 U.S. adults between October 2023 and September 2024. The survey was conducted by Statista Consumer Insights.
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