Streaming has become a major way Americans watch television, but it has not simply made broadcast and cable disappear. In Nielsen’s May 2025 measurement of viewing on U.S. TV screens, streaming accounted for 44.8% of viewing, just above the 44.2% combined share for broadcast and cable. Those figures measure viewing time during one interval—not how many households subscribe—and many people use streaming alongside traditional TV.
What changed in how people watch TV?
Traditional television is organized around channels and schedules: viewers tune in to what is airing. Streaming delivers programs over the internet, letting viewers choose from services and watch on demand or through internet-delivered live channels. The shift changes not only when people watch, but also how they find and access programs: instead of one channel lineup, viewing can be spread across paid subscriptions, free ad-supported services, and broadcast or cable.
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Streaming does not mean every program is exclusive to an app or that every viewer has abandoned scheduled television. Media companies distribute programming across both streaming and linear platforms, and free services also contribute to viewing. Nielsen describes subscription video-on-demand services such as Netflix and Hulu, and free-to-watch services such as Tubi and Pluto. These are examples of service types, not a ranking of their prices, catalogs, or availability.
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Is streaming replacing cable TV?
In the United States, streaming reached a notable viewing milestone in May 2025. Nielsen’s Gauge, which measures viewing through television screens, recorded 44.8% of U.S. TV viewing as streaming and 44.2% as broadcast and cable combined during the April 28–May 25 measurement interval. The six-tenths-of-a-point difference is a share of television usage for that period—not a count of subscriptions or households. Nielsen’s May 2025 Gauge report cautioned that seasonal factors can shift the balance, including football and the return of the broadcast season; it described the crossover as not necessarily permanent.
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Nielsen’s comparison with May 2021 shows the direction of change in its viewing measures: streaming usage rose 71%, while broadcast viewing fell 21% and cable viewing fell 39% by May 2025. These are changes in Nielsen’s Gauge usage measures over that comparison, not changes in the number of households subscribing. In April 2025, streaming had accounted for 44.3% of U.S. TV viewing, another dated snapshot rather than a forecast. Nielsen’s report explains the May result in context.
How many people stream, and how many still have pay TV?
Surveys of household and adult behavior answer a different question from a viewing meter. In a 2025 survey, 83% of U.S. adults said they watch streaming services, while 36% said they currently subscribe to cable or satellite at home. The measures overlap: 28% said they both subscribe to pay TV and watch streaming, while 55% watch streaming without a cable or satellite subscription. These self-reported survey figures show why “streaming versus cable” is not a clean either-or choice. Pew Research Center’s July 2025 findings cover the responses.
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Keep the denominators distinct when comparing the numbers: Nielsen’s 44.8% is streaming’s share of TV-screen viewing during a specific interval; Pew’s 83% is the share of surveyed U.S. adults who said they watch streaming. Neither figure says that streaming has permanently displaced traditional TV.
What does streaming cost—and do viewers think it is worth it?
Streaming can involve several paid subscriptions, free services supported by advertising, or a mix. The available evidence does not establish a universal cost advantage over cable: prices, bundles, and viewing habits differ, and the survey does not compare household bills. Pew’s 2025 survey found that among streaming users, 44% said their services were worth the cost, 31% said they were not, and 25% were unsure. That split suggests value depends on what a household watches and how it weighs the price against the programming it uses. Pew’s survey results also found that 26% of streaming users reported using a service password from someone outside their household.
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How does the Canadian picture compare?
Canada illustrates why growth in streaming should not be treated as a universal, one-way replacement of traditional TV. In 2025, 33% of Canadian households reported subscribing only to streaming, while 44% subscribed to both traditional television and online audiovisual services, according to a 2026 Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) report drawing on MTM data. The same report describes declining traditional distribution: from 2021 to 2025, broadcasting distribution undertaking revenues fell by an average of 6.1% per year and subscribers by 3.5% per year; online audiovisual service revenues rose at an average annual rate of 13.6% from 2021. These measures describe different parts of the market and should not be read as a direct household-for-household substitution calculation. The CRTC’s 2026 report sets out the Canadian figures and their scope.
The CRTC also reported that traditional TV time in its cited Canadian measurements declined by an average of 5.9% annually since 2021, while streaming online services grew 18.4% annually, with streaming stabilizing in more recent years. But the report noted that its VAM streaming-viewing data at the time covered only Ontario and Quebec’s Francophone markets. That geographic limit means the viewing comparison is not a complete national measure of Canadian streaming audiences.
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Do you need a streaming device for your TV?
Not necessarily. A television with the streaming apps you want can access services directly. If it lacks the needed apps, a connected device—such as a streaming media player or game console—can provide another way to stream on the TV. Nielsen’s measurement description identifies both smart-TV apps and connected devices, including Roku, Apple TV, and game consoles, as viewing pathways. That establishes the options, not device compatibility for a particular television or service. Check the TV’s available apps and the device’s compatibility before buying anything. Nielsen’s streaming measurement description explains how viewing on these devices is counted.
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- More choice in when to watch: on-demand services make programs available outside a traditional channel schedule.
- More places to look: viewing can be spread among paid subscriptions, free ad-supported services, broadcast, and cable.
- More overlap than a simple replacement story suggests: U.S. survey results and Canadian household data both show many viewers or households using streaming alongside pay TV.
- No automatic hardware upgrade: a separate device is useful only if the TV does not already provide the apps or access the viewer needs.
The central change is a more fragmented mix of delivery and viewing choices, not a single new system that every household has adopted. The U.S. and Canadian figures point in the same broad direction but measure different things, in different markets, and with different geographic coverage.
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