It’s no longer just cord-cutting. Now, with the plethora of steaming options available—Amazon Prime, YouTube TV, Netflix, Pluto TV and more—viewers are tuning into online TV more than they are traditional cable.
Overall, watching TV and movies is still the top entertainment option for 35-74 year-olds, but according to the study, that drops dramatically with the 18-34 set, for whom gaming/social media/online videos are their top forms of entertainment.
Online Streaming Supersedes Cable
According to Hub’s annual “Decoding the Default” study, viewers are going to online TV options first and those viewing behaviors are shifting rapidly year-over-year. The study shows that 55 percent of viewers are tuning into online TV, up 5 percent from 2020. Traditional set-top cable services saw a decline of 3 percent from last year.
Netflix Is No Longer The Top Streaming Option
Despite online TV streaming being more popular than ever, Netflix appears to have lost ground to other options. Viewers that cited Netflix as their default source for entertainment has slid by 3 points since 2020. And it’s easy to see where those viewers are going—Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and HBO Max have all risen by 4 percent in viewership in the past year alone.
