A new Horowitz Research study highlights the growing importance of streaming, with data showing that 61% of weekly TV content viewing this year occurred on streaming platforms, up from 45% in 2024 and 38% in 2020.
In contrast, only 35% of the weekly TV content viewing takes place on traditional MVPDs or via live over-the-air broadcasts. That is down from 44% in 2024, 58% in 2020 and 70% in 2015, when streaming accounted for only 23% of weekly TV content viewing.
The new “State Of Media, Entertainment, And Tech Volume II: Viewing Behaviors, 2025 Edition” also highlights the importance of live viewing and the growing role that streaming is playing in how people watch live content.
The survey found that 85% of viewers watch at least some live content and that streaming dominates those habits. About 40% of those surveyed said they used FAST services to watch live content, more than the 36% who said they used cable or satellite services. A growing number, 33%, said they used SVOD services to watch live content, as services like Netflix and Max expand their sports programming.
YouTube was the fourth most-popular way to view live content (19% of viewers said they used it for live programming), followed by virtual MVPDs like Sling TV (16%) and TV antennas for over-the-air broadcast (11%).
Among the streaming services, however, SVOD still accounted for the largest share of TV content viewing. SVOD held a 59% share of time spent with streaming content, followed by FAST (27%), vMVPDs (5%) and TV everywhere services (1%).
Streaming plays a larger share in the viewing habits of younger viewers, with 18-to-34-year-olds spending 75% of their weekly TV content viewing on streaming platforms, followed by people aged 35-49 (67%) and consumers are 50 or older (48%).
White, non-Latinx viewers also stream less than the general population, with 58% of their weekly TV content viewing time taking place on streaming platforms, while Black consumers spend 61%, Asian viewers 70% and Latinx watchers 65% of their weekly TV content viewing time on streaming platforms.
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