Weekly time spent watching live TV in the U.S. 2021

As of March 2021, most of U.S. Americans watched live TV 12 or more hours per week recently, with a share of 26 percent of respondents to a survey. Eight percent stated to have been spending less than one hour consuming live television content and 14 percent of people interviewed do not watch live TV at all.

Why would people watch less live TV?

Although watching television has always been among the most popular media activities in the world, with the advent of the streaming market and its increasing popularity, the appeal of live TV is waning. Paying for movie and TV streaming services is becoming more commonplace, and companies like Netflix offer a wealth of content which live TV cannot always match. However, paid streaming services are not live television’s only competitor.

Content offering

Online video market leader YouTube allows viewers to enjoy not only music videos but entire movies, recordings of older shows, and an incredible amount of user-generated content unlikely ever to make it to traditional television. Meanwhile, the kind of content that live TV can deliver which is totally unique is dwindling, and gradually becoming limited to talk shows, reality TV, and news programs. As streaming services grow even more sophisticated in terms of what they offer and how they do it, it is possible that live TV viewing will be left behind whilst audiences pursue online content they can watch on the go, on their mobile, and at the click of a button.