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Report: Linear TV Viewing Declining as Social Media, FAST Viewership Continues to Rise

David Satin
David covers the biggest news stories, live events, premieres, and informational pieces for The Streamable. Before joining TS, he wrote extensively for Screen Rant and has years of experience writing about the entertainment and streaming industries. He's a Broncos fan, streams on his Toshiba Fire TV, and his favorites include "Andor," "Rings of Power," and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
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David Satin

The lumbering dinosaur that is linear TV is continuing to slow down according to a report from research firm Omdia that examined the 2021 viewing habits of consumers across the U.S., Europe, and Australia.

Consumers in these markets spent a total of 362 minutes per day (6 hours, 2 minutes) watching videos across all platforms. That number is down 0.5% from 2020 and the report indicates that declines in linear TV viewership and pay-TV subscriptions led to the drop.

The report examined all viewing habits in those markets and determined that linear TV viewing time decreased in all markets. The study points to the receding COVID pandemic as one reason for the decline in viewers, as more and more people are able to leave their homes.

In the U.S., linear TV watching fell by around 20-30 minutes per day. The biggest gainers in terms of viewers were social media platforms like TikTok, as well as longer-form viewing on sites like Netflix and Disney+. TikTok did especially well, and is set to overtake Facebook as the leader in time spent watching content on a social media platform in 2022.

Although linear TV is still how a slight majority of viewers consume content, that trend won’t last much longer. Omdia’s Senior Analyst on the TV and Online Video team Rob Moyser said that “in highly developed markets such as the US and the UK, 2021 will likely be the last year where linear TV predominates over non-linear TV viewing.”

The report does not specifically cover the habits of paid, non-ad supported streaming services vs. free ad-supported TV (FAST) services, but the growth of FAST channels in the U.S. can’t be ignored. According to a Comcast Advertising report, six in 10 domestic households use FAST channels exclusively, or alongside other streaming services. That’s more bad news for traditional linear TV, as FASTs offer the same features linear TV does, and usually include an on-demand component that linear TV lacks.

David Satin
David covers the biggest news stories, live events, premieres, and informational pieces for The Streamable. Before joining TS, he wrote extensively for Screen Rant and has years of experience writing about the entertainment and streaming industries. He's a Broncos fan, streams on his Toshiba Fire TV, and his favorites include "Andor," "Rings of Power," and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
Read full bio ›
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