TV Tech’s Top Data Dumps of 2025

Research on new trends reshaping the media and entertainment industries remained one of the most popular topics on the TV Tech website in 2025.

Our top 15 stories highlighted new research about the use of AI, social video, sports viewing, cord-cutting, local TV ad revenue declines and streaming video.

As we move into 2026, the data points from these top 15 stories also highlight many of the major trends to watch in 2026.

1. Nearly 90% of Advertisers will Use Gen AI to Build Video Ads, According to IAB

Latest report also details what advertisers expect from CTV

2. Parks: Social Video Now Accounts for 20% of TV Viewing

Viewers watch more social video weekly than pay TV and broadcast according to Parks Associates.

3. NFL Viewers Embrace Interactive Shopping and Social Experiences on Game Day

New survey indicates that about half have shopped for NFL merchandise while watching games.

4. Middle-Aged Viewers Power YouTube Long-Form Content

35-to-64-year-olds emerge as YouTube’s long-form ‘content super-consumers,’ according to Ampere Analysis.

5. S&P: Pay-TV Subscriptions Decline for Ninth Straight Year

No sign of relief for industry that saw subscriber loss of 7.1% in 2024.

6. Local TV Has Lost More than Half of Its Media Spending Market Share Since 2017

Local TV accounted for only 6% of total media spending through June 2025, down from 13% in 2017, according to Guideline.

7. Analyst: Consolidation Isn’t a Quick Fix for TV-Station Ad Woes

Larger station groups will still face an ongoing shift of ad dollars from TV to digital, according to Madison & Wall.

8. Study: 45% of U.S. Internet Households Now Watch FAST Services

Nearly 9 in 10 (89%) of these homes also subscribe to at least one streaming service, with 59% choosing the cheaper ad-supported option, Parks Associates reported.

9. Forecast: Amazon Prime Video Advertising to Hit $806 Million in 2025

S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan estimates that subscribers to Amazon Prime will hit 128 million by year's end and that nearly 75% of those access Prime Video content.

10. Nielsen Unveils Redesigned Weekly TV Ranking Reports

Company, which has also launched two new reports, is including Big Data Plus Panel metrics.

11. Study: More Viewers Start Their TV Viewing with a SVOD Service Than Live TV

Less than one third of viewers start watching TV with a live TV service; 40% begin with an SVOD service like Netflix.

12. Study: Global M&E Industry Revenue to Hit $3.5 Trillion by 2029

AI will help connected TV ad revenues rise to $51 billion in 2029, equal to 45% of traditional broadcast TV advertising, PwC projects.

13. U.K. Researchers Conclude Most Viewers Can't Discern 8K (or Even 4K) Resolution

To calculate the resolution limit, researchers conducted a study that measured participants’ ability to detect specific features in color and greyscale images on a screen.

14. Sports Is Streaming’s Content MVP, But Fan Frustration is Growing

Fans care more about sports than anything else on TV, but 66% complain about the hassle of using multiple services, Hub Entertainment finds.

15. New Data: Streaming Service Users Are Wasting More Time Looking for Something to Watch

U.S. consumers now spend 12 minutes trying to find programming, up from 10.5 minutes in 2023, as many report being `overwhelmed’ by streaming media.