More Than A Quarter Of Americans No Longer Watch Live TV, Study Says

Fewer and fewer people are watching live television, and the drop is especially notable among young people.

A new study from Attest, a New York-based consumer research platform, finds that 28% of consumers say they don’t watch live TV (shows on television viewed on traditional broadcast or cable) on an average day. That number has dropped steadily over the past two years, going from 20% in 2023 to 24% last year and now to more than a quarter of respondents.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the decrease is especially notable among young people. Forty-one percent of those under 30 years old, also known as Generation Z, say they don’t typically watch live TV. That compares to 27% of adults 31-49 and just 20% of those over 50.

Among those Gen Zers who do watch live TV, they are most likely to watch only 30 minutes to an hour per day. By contrast, a quarter of the demo reports streaming TV for one to two hours a day, while another 25% say they stream three to four hours a day.

Cord Cutting And Shifting Media Consumption

The findings are notable yet not particularly surprising. A long steady shift in consumer media habits has been going on since the advent of the digital video recorder and later rise of streaming services available across devices—something that has been playing out for more than two decades.

Cord cutting, or getting rid of traditional cable service, has become much more common over the past 10 years as consumers can get their entertainment from other sources at a lower price. That has impacted traditional media companies, which have in turn launched their own streaming services to compete.

Young people coming of age during this time didn’t grow up watching live TV as frequently as their parents. They had video on demand choices and never learned to tune in at a certain time for a show like their parents.

They also had more flexibility in how to watch their entertainment. While previous generations could only use TVs, now you can watch on laptops, smartphones and tablets. These options have also decreased live TV viewership.

The results of that shift are seeing in TV ratings, which have fallen for almost every live TV event. The Super Bowl is one of the few events that can continue to attract a huge audience, but even live awards shows like the Oscars and Grammys have seen audiences fall to record lows.

Technology Shifts Other Traditional Media Consumption Patterns, Too

Technology appears to be impacting other traditional media, too. Daily radio listenership has fallen from 37% two years ago to 31% this year. Attest said it has also seen a drop in those listening a few times weekly, now at 23%. And those who say they never listen to the radio has gone from 11% two years ago to 16% today.

For more than a decade, streaming music listening has been rising, a method that allows more control over what you listen to.