How TV Viewing Habits Have Changed

TV viewing habits have shifted, initially on account of new technology and evolving platforms and then, more recently, because of the pandemic. Watching TV used to merely mean sitting on the couch in front of a television set, but that’s changed significantly—enough that not long ago, very seasoned tech and entertainment execs were willing to bet billions that by 2020, people would be watching a significant amount of content in line at the grocery store. The great checkout line binge watch did not happen, but COVID19 did. As we emerge from the pandemic, it’s worth taking stock of TV viewing habits in a streaming age, including audiences’ viewing styles, activities and reasons. One might be surprised at where people are watching, what they’re doing while watching, or just how much content people consume nowadays—even on weekdays.

Viewing Styles

Where and how people watch shows has changed. The shift from TV-style appointment viewing to streaming has been significant, especially for younger people. Over 50% of streaming viewers are under 35; viewers ages 60 and up said they spend only 14% of their entertainment time with streaming services, but those ages 15–29 said they spend 22% of their entertainment time with streaming.

With streaming, new options for how to consume content arrived. Digital had already eroded the strictures of appointment viewing; streaming allowed for binge watching with unprecedented ease. Appointment viewing is “the traditional viewing of content live or when it is broadcast, typically in a once-weekly format.” Binge watching is defined as, “long periods of focused, deliberate viewing of sequential television content that is generally narrative, suspenseful, and dramatic in nature.” And serial viewing is “watching a series, a season, or several seasons of a TV show at one’s own pace over the course of several days, weeks, or months.” The frequency of binge watching and serial viewing increased from 2015 to 2020, and current levels remain elevated from estimates just prior to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, which saw all types of viewing increase. Participants in a 2021 study reported most frequently engaging in serial viewing, followed by binge watching, followed by appointment viewing.

Interestingly—and perhaps unexpectedly, given the rise in streaming—serial viewing and binge watching are more closely associated with viewing content on television, demonstrating a shift from the personal screen to the living room.

Viewing Activities Why people watch TV, and what people do while they watch, has also changed. With more people at home, the TV may be on more, but does that mean people are actually watching it? Chun Shao from Arizona State University did a study for his dissertation and found that, “Despite the myriad shows NetflixNFLX
pumps out—even going so far as to use algorithms to determine what its audiences want—the truth is, sometimes what audiences want is merely background noise. Many participants indicated they used Netflix to fill the silence… and keep them company.” Another study found that viewer attention did decrease during the window of increased viewing—but by only 3.7%.

So, in addition to the much-popularized “Netflix and Chill,” we can add “Netflix and Ignore,” and research shows that, “Netflix and Sleep” and “Netflix and Snack” are also common combinations. “Watching Netflix before bed is an integral part of participants’ sleep routines,” says Shao, “More than half of the participants said they typically watch Netflix in the evening before going to sleep.” He also shares the results that, “Many participants eat food when watching Netflix, not necessarily because they are hungry, but simply because they have come to associate streaming media with eating.” Interestingly, Shao concluded that participants’ viewing behavior determines not only when they watch, but also how they watch and what they watch; their viewing environment is a factor in what type of show they select.

Viewing Reasons

Why and when viewers are watching TV has changed as well. When the pandemic hit, parents began spending more time with their kids. They prioritized family-focused activities, and more often than not, that meant watching TV. The 2022 Nickelodeon “Kids’ Choice Awards” had the highest level of co-viewing in the awards’ history: more than half of kids watched with an adult, a triple-digit increase over the previous year. Interestingly, research has found that co-viewing increases the effectiveness of ads; watching together, both kids and adults are more attentive. This has led some, like AdAge writer Karen Phillips, to argue that actual television sets still have the biggest impact or, alternately, “that the living room couch is still the most important place for advertisers to reach kids and families.”

While this is in keeping with the learnings about where serial viewing and binge watching occur, it’s important to consider the alternate interpretations of what a “television” means these days. Watching traditional TV channels has almost stopped among younger viewers, with 90% of 18-to 24-year-olds favoring their preferred streaming service. Viewers aged 16 to 24 spend an average of just 53 minutes a day watching traditional broadcast TV—a fall of two-thirds over the last decade–and seven times less than those aged 65 and over. Those aged 65+ still spend about a third of their waking day, almost six hours, watching broadcast TV—slightly higher than a decade ago.

And yet, overall, there’s more time spent watching content. The average kid consumes five hours of media per day, an increase of 7% from 2018. In general, the amount of time viewers spend with the TV on between 10 a.m. and 5:00 p.m has increased by 77%, to a level more like a pre-COVID-19 Sunday than a Tuesday.

The More Things Change…Audiences’ viewing styles, activities and reasons have clearly shifted over the past several years, and change is unlikely to stop anytime soon; after all, change is the only constant. Even with all these changes, some things stay the same. More people watch more Netflix on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, a trend that likely extends to other streaming services that have not specifically been named in studies. And primetime is still the most important part of the day for people watching live, even across all platforms.