Consumer research platform Attest has released the findings from its fifth annual US Media Consumption Report which provides insights into how Americans’ habits across television, audio, news, and social media continue to evolve.

TV & Streaming Trends

(Most) consumers are spending less time watching, while live TV continues to plummet
• Attest’s research finds that the amount of TV that Americans watch is declining. The percentage of people watching TV of any type for more than three hours a day has dropped by -3 percentage points this year to 61 per cent, while binge-watching sessions of five plus hours daily have also declined by -3 percentage points to 28 per cent
• There has also been a steady drift away from live TV for the last number of years and this year is no different. Nearly one in four Americans (24 per cent) don’t watch any live TV, a +4 percentage point increase on last year and consumers aged 35-44 are most likely to have abandoned live TV.

Streaming wars: Password crackdown dents Netflix numbers, Disney+ also suffers

• Since Netflix got tough on password sharing and scrapped its Basic ad-free tier, fewer Americans are regularly accessing the platform. The number of consumers who watch Netflix at least once a week has declined by -9 percentage points to 62 per cent. This loss has occurred across all age groups, with the deepest loss felt in the 35-44 age group (-13 percentage points to 64 per cent).
• Disney+ is also feeling the pain after hiking the cost of its ad-free plan by $3 in October 2023. The move appears to have led to a loss of viewers, with a -7 percentage point decline in Americans accessing the platform at least once a week (to 31 per cent). Similar to the losses seen at Netflix, it’s Millennials who have defected: the percentage of consumers aged 28-43 who watch Disney+ has dropped by a considerable -13 percentage points to 38 per cent.
• YouTube TV enjoyed a boost in users last year, but in 2024, viewer numbers have slipped back down. The percentage of consumers using the live TV streaming service weekly has declined by -8 percentage points to 17 per cent.
• Overall, Netflix retains its title as America’s most popular streaming service, with 62 per cent of consumers using it weekly, followed by Hulu (45 per cent), Amazon Prime (45 per cent) and Disney+ (31 per cent).

Audio Trends

Americans aren’t streaming music as frequently & Apple Music declines in use
• Music streaming has been on an upward trajectory since Attest began tracking it, but this year it’s taken a dip. The percentage of US consumers who listen to streamed music daily has decreased by -8 percentage points to 36 per cent. Meanwhile, the percentage who say they never listen to streamed music has increased by +6 percentage points to 19 per cent.
• Apple Music is really feeling the sting from this downward trend in streaming music. Just as it was starting to make gains, the platform has suffered a -9 percentage point decline in regular users to 20 per cent. It’s the biggest loss among a slew of losses for music streamers and puts Apple Music back behind Amazon Music (23 per cent). YouTube Music (at 37 per cent) and Spotify (36 per cent) remain neck-and-neck as America’s favorite music streaming services.

The podcast boom runs out of steam, while radio becomes less popular
• The percentage of consumers listening to podcasts hit a high last year, but 2024 fails to deliver any growth for the medium. Just under 39 per cent of Americans listen to podcasts weekly, which is a -2 percentage point decline.
• Radio has held its own during the rise of the music streamers but could its star finally be on the wane? In 2024, daily radio listening has declined by -4 percentage points to 32 per cent. While the medium is still going strong with older demographics, a quarter (25 per cent) of consumers aged 18-24 say they never listen to the radio and only 16 per cent listen daily.

Social Media Trends

Americans pull back on prolonged social media use, while consumers leave X behind
• Since 2022, Attest has found that the proportion of US consumers using social media for over 2+ hours a day has been in decline. This trend continues this year with a -4 percentage point drop to 41 per cent who spend more than two hours on these platforms.
• Perhaps unsurprisingly, out of all generations, Gen Z spends the most time on social media, yet 15 per cent of this segment will be on such platforms for a whopping 5-6 hours on a daily basis.
• It would appear that the changes to X, including a high-profile rebrand has driven consumers away. The number of Americans who never use X (formerly Twitter) has increased by +7 percentage points to 50 per cent since last year. At the same time, daily usership has decreased from 23 per cent to 20 per cent.

TikTok loses traction with Gen Z, while young consumers use Snapchat less frequently
• Snapchat has suffered a -7 percentage point loss in daily US users, to 20 per cent. The platform has become notably less appealing to users aged 18-24: last year, half of this age group used Snapchat every day, but that figure has fallen by -18 percentage points to 31 per cent. It means the platform is now only marginally more popular with this age group than Facebook (27 per cent use it daily).
• One assumption might be that the falling numbers of Gen Z on Snapchat were due to a migration to TikTok, but that would also be wrong. Consumers aged 18-24 are also reducing their use of TikTok: the percentage who use it daily has declined by -9 percentage points. However, this figure still stands at 47 per cent, meaning Gen Z remains the platform’s biggest audience.
• TikTok is trending down in general, with an +8 percentage point increase in non-users (to 43 per cent). While the exact reason for this is unknown, it could perhaps be tied to its uncertain future in the US market.

Media (Print & Digital) Trends

Consumers are cutting back on digital content subscriptions, print continues its decline
• Digital content subscriptions have experienced a -5 percentage point decline in 2024 to 30 per cent. Consumers aged 35-44 have cut back the most (-20 percentage points to 31 per cent). However, losses have been offset by gains from consumers aged 18-24. Gen Z has bucked the trend by increasing their subscriptions to digital content by +17 percentage points to 50 per cent.
• Consumers are accessing digital news less regularly also – there’s been a -4 percentage point decline in consumers reading digital news daily (to 25 per cent).
• Weekly readership of printed newspapers has decreased by -10 percentage points to 23 per cent. The decline is driven by consumers in the 35-44 age bracket, where there has been a huge decline of -31 percentage points to 21 per cent.

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