Advanced Television

Report: US consumers turning to FAST for live TV

July 2, 2025

The majority (85 per cent) of US consumers watch at least some live TV content, according to Horowitz’s annual report, State of Media, Entertainment & Tech: Viewing Behaviours 2025.

While older viewers (91 per cent of 50+ year-olds) tend to be more likely to watch live TV, most younger viewers (78 per cent of 18-34 year-olds and 81 per cent of consumers ages 35-49) report doing so as well. In fact, the Horowitz study finds that almost 6 in 10 (57 per cent ) consumers spend at least half of their viewing time with live content. Predictably, live news and sports are the most popular live genres, followed by current episodes of new TV shows

In a rapidly evolving media landscape, FAST services have quickly become the leading source for live viewing, with 40 per cent of live viewers saying they typically watch live TV on FAST, followed by traditional cable/satellite providers (36 per cent ), subscription streaming services (33 per cent ), YouTube (19 per cent ), and virtual MVPD services (16 per cent ). Younger live viewers (53 per cent of 18-34 year-olds and 47 per cent of consumers ages 35-49) are much more likely to use FAST services to watch live TV content than their older counterparts (29 per cent of 50+ year-olds).


“The rising dominance of FAST services for live TV viewing is an important and welcome development for everyone in the media ecosystem,” commented Adriana Waterston, Executive Vice President and Insights & Strategy Lead for Horowitz Research, a division of M/A/R/C Research. “It is critical for the health of the media ecosystem to offset the loss of advertising revenue in the traditional television space, and FAST is providing that path to sorely needed equilibrium. Further, it is giving advertisers a direct route to younger, Gen Z audiences, whom traditional TV advertising has not been effective at reaching.”

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Consumer Behaviour, FTA, Research

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