Noteworthy in 2021

A pandemic-fueled rise in digital video and audio consumption has continued into 2021.

• Broadcast TV still attracted a vast majority of internet users. As of Q1, 90.4% of those ages 16 to 64 had watched live TV in the prior month. More than three-quarters (78.2%) of respondents had used a TV channel’s catch-up or on-demand service, and nearly 57% had recorded TV programs to watch later. However, daily time spent with broadcast TV declined to 1 hour, 55 minutes (1:55) in H1, down from 2:07 in H1 2020.
• In total, 98.8% of internet users had streamed video content during the prior month, per H1 2021 data—substantially more than the 90.4% of Q1 respondents who had watched live TV in the same time frame. Yet online TV and video streaming occupied less time each day than broadcast programs, at 1:37 per day.
• Internet users have also joined paid services like Netflix in ever-larger numbers. More than 81% of respondents had watched TV shows or movies via subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services in the prior month, rising by more than 8 percentage points from H1 2020 to Q1 2021. While usage was greatest among younger adults and in high-income homes, more than two-thirds of the 55-to-64 cohort were also recent SVOD viewers, and penetration was close to 79% in lower-income households.