Americans stream more TV than anyone else in the world. U.S. internet users spend 10 hours and 11 minutes a week watching streaming TV, the most of any country GWI measured and about double the worldwide average. If your business is still thinking of TV as only broadcast and cable, you’re missing where most of your customers now watch.
10:11
Hours and minutes per week U.S. internet users ages 16+ spend watching streaming TV: Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and other streaming services. #1 in the world. (GWI, Q2 2026)
The U.S. by the numbers
GWI’s latest survey data, published in DataReportal’s October 2026 report with We Are Social and Meltwater, shows how much of Americans’ week goes to TV, and how much of that is streaming:
- 10 hours 11 minutes a week streaming TV. The highest of every country in the survey, ahead of Norway and Brazil. The worldwide average is 5 hours 8 minutes.
- 16 hours 43 minutes a week watching any kind of TV. Broadcast, cable, streaming and recorded shows combined, third highest in the world. The worldwide average is 9 hours 58 minutes.
- 3.82 days a week streaming. The average U.S. internet user streams TV on nearly four days out of seven, third highest in the world. The worldwide average is 2.77 days.
- 60.9% of all TV time is streaming. About 6 of every 10 hours of TV that U.S. internet users watch now come through a streaming service, compared with 51.5% worldwide.
Nielsen sees the same shift
Nielsen, which measures TV viewing across U.S. homes, tells the same story from a different angle. In May 2026, streaming reached a record 48.6% of all U.S. TV viewing, more than broadcast and cable combined. The methods are different, but the direction is the same: streaming is now the biggest way Americans watch TV.
What this means for your business
Streaming isn’t replacing TV. It is TV, just delivered differently. That changes how a local business can advertise on it:
- Your commercial can run where Americans watch most. Streaming services like Hulu, Peacock, Roku and YouTube TV carry commercials, and local businesses can buy them.
- You only pay for the households you want. Streaming ads target by ZIP code, age and interests, so a South Florida dentist or law firm isn’t paying to reach the whole country.
- It reaches people often. With Americans streaming nearly four days a week, a steady campaign can reach the same households again and again, which is how names get remembered.
- It’s measurable. We can track website visits and calls from the households that saw your commercial. Our post on how to know your TV ads are working explains how.
Broadcast and cable still matter, especially for live sports and local news, where audiences watch together and in real time. (More on that in our posts on live sports and local news.) The strongest plans use both: traditional TV for big live moments, streaming to reach people the rest of the week.
How Sunray Media Consultants puts you on streaming TV
We produce the commercial, plan the buy across streaming services and traditional TV, target the ZIP codes and audiences you want, and report the results every month. See our CTV and OTT streaming TV ads and video production services, or read how South Florida dental practices use streaming.
Americans watch more streaming TV than anyone in the world. Book a free marketing diagnostic and we’ll show you how to put your business on the screens your customers already watch.
Sources
- DataReportal, Digital 2026 October Global Statshot Report (We Are Social and Meltwater), “Weekly time spent watching streaming TV,” “Weekly time spent watching television,” “Frequency of watching streaming TV” and “Streaming’s share of total TV time,” GWI data for internet users ages 16+, Q2 2026. datareportal.com. GWI changed its survey method in Q4 2024, so these figures aren’t comparable with earlier reports.
- Nielsen, The Gauge, May 2026, as reported by MediaPost.
