From a stream to a deluge: Nearly 90% of US adults are streaming content
What started out as a steady stream of content flowing into households across the United States no more than 20 years ago has since turned into a veritable deluge, sweeping up screens and leaving the waterlogged debris of traditional television in its wake. According to a new survey by the Pew Research Center, a whopping 83% of Americans say they watch streaming services, compared to 36% who currently have a cable or satellite TV subscription.
The survey found that a mere 10% of U.S. adults have never used a streaming service.
Tuning into streaming, dropping out of traditional TV
With such a significant portion of the population participating in this relatively new frontier of entertainment, it follows that streaming audiences largely eschew demographic differences such as age and income.
While 9 in 10 Americans under 50 say they watch streaming services, so too do 83% of adults between 50 and 64, as well as 65% of those who are 65 and older.
Similarly, while 91% of upper-income adults reported using streaming services, that number drops to a still-significant 77% in the lower-income bracket.
Incidentally, a little more than 1 in 4 respondents (28%) said they have a streaming service and a cable or satellite TV subscription; a little more than half (55%) watch streaming but have no traditional TV subscription.
So, who are the major outliers here? Well, that would be the 8% of people who pay for cable or satellite but no streaming service, as well as the similarly represented 8% who have no streaming service, no cable and no satellite TV.
The battle between cable and streaming rages on
While the numbers are impressive, it’s worth noting that some Americans are choosing to return to the pre-Internet way of consuming content. As Straight Arrow News reported in March, 22% of former cord-cutters have returned to cable, according to a survey by Coupon Cabin.
In that analysis, researchers found that nearly half of those surveyed said they canceled at least one streaming service due to rising prices. Others said they unsubscribed simply because there are too many platforms to manage.
This is reflected in Pew’s survey, which also found that while 44% of respondents believe the streaming service they use is worth the cost, more than 1 in 3 (31%) said it’s not worth it, and 1 in 4 (25%) said they weren’t sure.
With the number of services and the sheer volume of content streaming platforms produce, not to mention their tendency to dominate pop culture and water cooler conversations, it might have seemed as though streaming outpaced traditional TV long ago. However, it wasn’t until May that the digital ecosystem first overtook broadcast and cable TV combined.
According to Nielsen, streaming accounted for 44.8% of all TV viewing in May 2025, the highest share ever recorded. In comparison, broadcast TV represented 20.1% while cable TV accounted for 24.1%, totaling 44.2%.
At the time, Brian Fuhrer, Nielsen’s senior vice president, said, “While many have expected this milestone to have occurred sooner, sporting events, news and new-season content have kept broadcast and cable TV surprisingly resilient.”
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
