In 2024, TV consumption in the United States was highest among African Americans and Black people, who watched an average of **** hours of TV each day. At the same time, the viewing time dropped among Asian Americans to under *** hours TV and streaming engagement among racial groups As of mid 2022, The U.S. population still spent most of their time watching TV and streaming content on traditional media, such as cable and broadcast. Roughly ** percent of their viewing time was allocated to streaming. It was also observed that Hispanics were more likely to use online video platforms than any other ethnic group, with a viewing time share of over ** percent. By contrast, using streaming services accounted for around ****third of the total viewing time among white and Asian consumers. Traditional TV vs. digital video The way consumers watch TV shows and movies has changed significantly. A forecast showed that traditional TV consumption among Americans will continue to steadily decline in the upcoming years. Meanwhile, with an increasing number of consumers adopting streaming and social videos, digital video soars, outpacing TV viewing time by the end of 2023.

In 2024, **** percent of American TV consumers spent ***** or more hours a day watching TV, while almost ** percent spent *** hour or more per day watching live TV. Traditional TV consumption declined in recent years, as more and more viewers opt for streaming services.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in November 2022, eight percent of Americans watched the online television service Pluto TV every day. Daily usage of the service did not differ much based on gender, as nine percent of male respondents and eight percent of female respondents stated to have watched it on a daily basis. However, overall usage differs more strongly based on gender, as ** percent of men have used it at least once in the month prior to the survey, compared to ** percent of women.

This statistic shows the share of American students in grades 9 to 12 who stated they have been watching three or more hours of television on an average school day in 2017, by gender and ethnicity. About 32.8 percent of female student respondents with a black, non-Hispanic background stated they watched three or more hours of television on an average school day in 2017.

As of June 2020, ** percent of parents to U.S. teens aged 14 to 17 years stated that their kids were spending more than four hours per day on electronic devices since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only ** percent of responding parents stated that their teens had used electronic devices daily for more than four hours before the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, the pandemic triggered a rise in the use of electronic devices among American children under 13 and teenagers with screentime now double that of what it used to be across all age groups. YouTube, Netflix and Instagram dominate In an ongoing survey between 2015 and 2020 it was reported that the most popular video platforms among teens in the U.S. were Netflix and YouTube, and the pandemic has done little to shift that. Cable TV viewership continued to decline throughout 2020, while Hulu rose in popularity during this time. Meanwhile, despite a slight drop in viewership Netflix and YouTube retained their positions as the top two video services after the onset of the pandemic. YouTube and Instagram were also named the most popular social media channels among teens and young adults, as of the third quarter of 2020. Due to their booming popularity, it is no wonder that advertisers have been increasingly targeting these networks, with social media add spend having been on the rise each year since 2017. The biggest growth surge has come from mobile advertising, while spend on desktop advertising has remained nearly the same. Texting and phone calls most preferred during lockdown As most of the world entered lockdown during the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, teens in the U.S. were asked which technologies they had used to virtually connect with friends and family during this time. 'Texting' was the most preferred method, named by over ** percent followed by phone calls. Meanwhile, video chat and social media came in third.

In terms of average time spent each day, TV is the second most used form of media in the United States, with adults spending *** minutes (more than ***** hours) watching television on a daily basis according to a study undertaken in April 2021. Digital formats took up the majority of U.S. adults' daily media consumption time, while for newspapers and magazines the average time spent was just *** and ***** minutes respectively. Is print dying? The reluctance among many print publications to publish their circulation figures tells a story in itself – print consumption is not what it used to be. Whilst many newspapers and magazines have made the move online, those which have not, have fallen behind, and in an increasingly digitized market risk disappearing almost totally from their audience’s view. Interestingly, ** percent adults who took part in a study on print media in 2018 admitted that they felt indifferent towards print dying out, and **** percent even said that they were happy at the prospect of the medium’s extinction. Despite the majority of respondents stating that they would be sad if print media became obsolete, a resurgence of the print medium looks to be unlikely. Book store and news dealer sales in the U.S. have been on the decline since 2007, and even long-established newspapers like The New York Times have had to protect themselves from the decline of print media by shifting their focus to digital. Subscriptions to The New York Times’ digital only news product have almost tripled since the end of 2014, evidencing the demand for such products and their potential success. Digital advertising and subscriptions make up a significant amount of the newspaper’s revenue and are necessary for its continued success. Had the NYT stuck to print, the company’s revenue would likely be very different. How has media consumption changed?  Since 2011, the daily time spent with major media in the United States has increased by ** minutes, with the average amount of daily time spent amounting to over half the hours in a day. Digital media is taking over, with music streaming services like Deezer and Spotify providing hours of entertainment and constantly expanding catalogues of music available at the click of a button. Revenue from music streaming in the U.S. reached 7.4 billion dollars in 2018, an increase of six billion in just five years, and the TV market is undergoing a similar change. Companies like Netflix and Sling TV are growing whilst traditional TV providers are losing subscribers. Streaming revenue, subscriptions and consumption are set to increase exponentially, whereas traditional media like books, print magazines and newspapers are less popular and have been exhibiting negative growth, a trend which is likely to continue in years to come.

Social media was by far the most popular news platform among 18 to 34-year-olds in the United States, with 47 percent of respondents to a survey held in August 2022 saying that they used social networks for news on a daily basis. By comparison, adults over 65 years old mostly used network news to keep up to date.

The decline of newspapers In the past, the reasons to regularly go out and purchase a print newspaper were many. Used not only for news but also apartment hunting, entertainment, and job searches (among other things), newspapers once served multiple purposes. This is no longer the case, with first television and then the internet taking care of consumer needs once covered by printed papers. Indeed, the paid circulation of daily weekday newspapers in the United States has fallen dramatically since the 1980s with no sign of future improvement.

News consumption habits

A survey on news consumption by gender found that 50 percent of women use either online-only news sites or social media for news each day, and 51 percent of male respondents said the same. Social media was by far the most used daily news platform among U.S. Millennials, and the same was true of Gen Z. One appeal of online news is that it often comes at no cost to the consumer. Paying for news found via digital outlets is not yet commonplace in the United States, with only 21 percent of U.S. consumers responding to a study held in early 2021 reporting having paid for online news content in the last year.

In 2021, adults in the U.S. spent an average of *** minutes (eight hours and five minutes) with digital media each day. This figure marked an increase of ** minutes compared to the previous year. Traditional vs. digital media usage amid COVID-19 The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic boosted media consumption across the globe. It also rapidly accelerated the shift from traditional to digital media consumption that has been unfolding in the United States and other markets for the better part of a decade. In 2020, consumers in the U.S. spent less than *** minutes per day using analog media and entertainment formats such as television, radio, or print media. In contrast, they devoted an estimated *** minutes to digital media and entertainment channels. Even though some traditional formats saw a temporary uptick in demand in 2020, the latest forecasts distinctly show that the media usage gap will continue to widen. How do users spend their time online? There has been a great influx of digital media and entertainment formats in recent years. According to a survey carried out in the early days of the pandemic, online video streaming ranked among the most popular digital media activities in the United States. This finding still holds true in 2022, as platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, or Disney+ continue to add highly anticipated titles to their extensive content catalogs. Other popular digital media categories include online audio, social media, and gaming. Not only did online gaming traffic skyrocket in 2020, but young internet users in particular also spend more time watching gaming video content on services like Twitch nowadays.

This statistic presents the relevance of ad-supported TV as share of top trending Twitter topics during primetime in the United States as of October 2018, sorted by timeslot. During the measured 4-week period, ad-supported TV accounted for 84 percent of top 10 trending twitter topics during primetime.

In the first half of 2023, consumers in Latin America spent, on average, **** hours per day on mobile media activities. The daily time spent with broadcast TV amounted to *** hours and ** minutes.

Mobile internet usage in Latin America and the Caribbean Since the mobile media command the largest amount of leisure time among people in Latin America, then how popular is access to mobile internet in the region? More than ** percent of population in Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica, and Argentina was reached by mobile internet in 2022. In Brazil and Mexico, the penetration rate of mobile internet stood at **** and **** percent, respectively. However, when it comes to number of users of mobile internet, that same year Brazil ranked first, with more than *** million users, with Mexico taking the second spot, with over ** million users. Printed press access dying out in LATAM? While TV and radio exhibit a relatively strong usage in the region, print media are not as popular. According to the study, a Latin American consumer spent less than ** minutes per day consuming print media such as books, magazines, and newspapers. In fact, it was forecast that by 2024, print media circulation will decrease by *** percent year-on-year. What is more, as of early 2021, less than ** percent of internet users in Latin America's six largest economies paid for digital news, showing that free news access is key in the region.

This graph shows the share of TV viewers who use another device during TV shows in the United States as of June 2017, by genre. During the survey, 37 percent of respondents stated that they used another screen during news programs.

This statistic presents the importance of social media according to Twitter users in the United States who identify as TV superfans as of January 2017. During the survey period, 72 percent of respondents stated that a social platform like Twitter played a role in their TV viewing.

According to a 2023 survey conducted in the United States, Gen Z respondents were spending the most time using their phones, over *** hours a day. By contrast, Baby Boomers recorded a daily screen time of roughly ***** hours and ** minutes.  Many users feel addicted to smartphones As technology’s role in our everyday life increases, consumers tend to spend more and more time using electronic devices, whether it is for working and studying on laptops and tablets, watching TV or scrolling social media on smartphones. As a consequence, many users across all generations feel somewhat addicted to smartphones. According to a 2023 survey conducted in the United States, Gen Z users felt addicted to such devices the most, followed by Millennials. Taking a step back and nostalgia for early 2000s How can we combat the overwhelming urge to stay connected and take a step back from our always-on reality? In an effort to reduce screen time, many users, especially those in Gen Z, are expressing a sense of nostalgia for early 2000s technology, particularly dumb phones and wired headphones. For instance, during a 2024 survey in the United States, ** percent of Gen Z respondents stated they would be interested in purchasing dumb phones, followed by ** percent of Millennials - a trend that might involve more users in the future.

This statistic presents the digital engagement of online adults and Millennials in the United States before, during, and after a TV program as of April 2018. During the survey period, 43 percent of Millennials stated that they always or frequently tweeted about or read tweets about a TV program.

This graph shows the activities undertaken whilst watching television in the United States as of November 2016, sorted by age group. During the survey, 49 percent of Millennial respondents stated that they send text messages while watching TV at home.

Cable TV news consumption is on the decline. Adults aged between 18 and 34 years old were the least likely to use cable TV networks as a source of news, with a survey held in the United States in August 2022 revealing that 45 percent never did so. Younger consumers preferred social media sites for keeping up to date, and whilst their older peers turned to cable news more frequently, network news was still a more popular daily news source.

Falling cable news ratings

Back in 2017, FOX News, the leading cable news network in the United States, had an average of almost 470 thousand viewers in the primetime demo. With the exception of 2020 where news consumption soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, ratings have fallen consecutively each year, and by 2022, FOX’s average viewer count sank to 341 thousand. CNN and MSNBC saw even greater drops in their audiences, with the latter seeing its ratings fall by more than 2.5 times between 2017 and 2022.

Why the drop in ratings?

Cable and satellite TV is no longer the norm: only adults aged 60 or above express a preference for traditional TV over video streaming services and apps, and among certain age groups the share who preferred the latter was over 70 percent. Indeed, a 2022 survey found that the majority of Gen Z, millennials, and Gen X did not have a cable subscription. The main reason for cutting the cord was price, with over a third of adults saying that cable was simply too expensive.

This statistic presents the frequency of smartphone usage while watching TV according to online users in the United States as of January 2019, sorted by ethnicity. During the survey period, a total of 80 percent of Hispanic respondents stated that they ever used their smartphone while watching television.

This statistic shows the devices used simultaneously while watching TV among internet users in the United States as of July 2017, sorted by age group. During the survey period, 56 percent of Baby Boomer respondents stated that they had used a desktop or laptop computer while watching TV in the past week.

This statistic presents the share of teen and young adult internet users worldwide who use the following devices while watching TV as of the second quarter 2017, by device type. According to the findings, 55 percent of teen and young adult internet users in North America had reported to using either their laptop or PC while watching TV, while 81 percent of users in Asia Pacific had stated to using their mobile devices simultaneously with their television viewing.

What are the most-watched news networks? In November 2023, Fox News was the most watched cable news network in the United States and continues to do well in terms of its primetime audience, with **** million primetime viewers in that period. Fox News viewers in the 25-54 demographic amounted to *** thousand, whilst MSNBC had just *** thousand. When looking at Fox News viewers compared to CNN, the overall average number of primetime viewers was notably different. CNN has been losing viewers in recent years, although during the coronavirus outbreak, tended to pull in a larger audience than usual. Which cable news channel has the most viewers in prime time? Performing well during the mid-evening prime time slot on cable television is the goal of any network that takes its ratings seriously.Cable news networks like Fox, CNN, and MSNBC are engaged in a monthly battle to hit the top spot during primetime and grab the highest cable news ratings during those precious evening hours. Fox News ratings during primetime are generally higher than its two direct competitors, and was the top channel for watching the State of the Union Address in 2020. What is prime time TV? Primetime television is the time at which the audience peaks, and in the United States usually takes place between 8pm and 11pm. TV networks show their most sought after or successful programs during this time, and this slot is where advertisers like to spend their money in order to maximize the number of viewers who will see their products. In fact, many of the most-watched news shows like Hannity or The Rachel Maddow Show which debate news coverage from a particular point of view, draw in massive audiences each month, ultimately contributing to the overall ratings of the network they belong to.