Streaming Usage in the U.S. and Beyond – 2021 Statistics and Facts

Whether it’s binging the latest season of a Netflix reality show, keeping up with everything the Mandalorian is doing, or playing music to accompany the workday, Americans are in love with streaming — and it’s not just us. Streaming content like TV shows, movies, live events, music, podcasts, and video games has gone from a niche concept to the standard way many people consume such content.

We wanted to understand the state of streaming in the U.S. and beyond, so we scoured the internet for facts and statistics around this vast and growing industry.

Table of Contents

 

 

 

TV Shows & Movies

For many people, the only way they watch TV shows these days is streaming from a service like Netflix or Disney+, and more people than ever before are also watching movies that way. In other words, video content like TV and film is the 600-pound gorilla when it comes to streaming.

Who’s Watching Streaming Services?

U.S. adults and streaming services
Currently subscribe 62%
Formerly subscribed 10%
Never subscribed 28%

(Morning Consult)

U.S. adults who subscribe to at least one streaming service by age group
18-34 70%
35-44 72%
45-64 58%
65+ 49%

(Morning Consult)

Which Platforms Are Most Popular?

U.S. adult subscribers by streaming service
Netflix 52%
Amazon Prime Video 39%
Hulu 30%
Disney+ 24%
YouTube TV 13%
Showtime 10%
HBO Now* 9%
Starz 9%
ESPN+ 7%
Apple TV+ 7%
CBS All-Access* 6%
Sling 5%
DirecTV Now 5%
Philo 2%
Fubo TV 1%

* Survey conducted before Paramount Plus replaced CBS All-Access and HBO Max replaced HBO Now

(Morning Consult)

Netflix subscribers by year, global in millions
2013 37
2014 50
2015 65
2016 83
2017 102
2018 128
2019 156
2020 194
2021 208

(Netflix)

Hulu subscribers by year, U.S. in millions
2019 26
2020 34
2021 41

(The Walt Disney Co.)

Disney+ subscribers by year, global in millions
2020 47
2021 99

(The Walt Disney Co.)

Do Viewers Stick With One Service? (Spoiler Alert: No.)

Streaming services per household, April 2020 vs. December 2020
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7+
April 2020 16% 22% 22% 16% 10% 6% 8%
December 2020 13% 18% 18% 17% 11% 8% 13%

(J.D. Power & Associates)

Average number of streaming services per U.S. household
April 2020 3
December 2020 4

(J.D. Power & Associates)

Percentage of U.S. streaming subscribers who also subscribe to other major service
Platform subscribers Netflix Peacock Premium HBO Max Amazon Prime Video Disney+ Hulu Apple TV+
Netflix — 6% 20% 63% 50% 50% 25%
Peacock Premium 90% — 80% 94% 86% 88% 72%
HBO Max 90% 22% — 89% 79% 83% 56%
Amazon Prime Video 84% 8% 27% — 61% 62% 34%
Disney+ 87% 10% 31% 82% — 70% 39%
Hulu 85% 10% 32% 79% 68% — 38%
Apple TV+ 92% 17% 46% 91% 81% 79% —

(Statista & Reelgood)

What Are People Spending on Streaming?

Average monthly household spending on streaming services

April 2020 $38
December 2020 $47

(J.D. Power & Associates)

Average annual per-person expenditure on streaming and downloading video by year
2013 $11.09
2014 $17.80
2015 $22.35
2016 $30.06
2017 $37.29
2018 $50.22
2019 $64.83

(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

U.S. video streaming revenue in billions
2017 $14
2018 $17
2019 $21
2020 $27
2021 $32
2022 $37
2023 $40
2024 $43
2025 $46

Note: 2021-25 are projections

(Statista)

How Often Do People Watch?

Percentage of U.S. adults streaming video content daily
All 40%
18-44 55%
45+ 27%

(Leichtman Research Group)

Streaming frequency by age group: TV shows
Age group Every day Several times per week About once per week Several times per month About once per month Less than once per month Never
18-29 52% 23% 6% 5% 3% 6% 5%
30-44 51% 27% 8% 4% 3% 3% 5%
45-54 45% 27% 9% 5% 1% 3% 10%
55-64 55% 25% 5% 5% 1% 4% 6%
65+ 54% 18% 2% 5% 1% 5% 13%

(Morning Consult)

Streaming frequency by age group: Movies
Age group Every day Several times per week About once per week Several times per month About once per month Less than once per month Never
18-29 25% 30% 14% 13% 7% 6% 4%
30-44 21% 32% 17% 11% 9% 6% 4%
45-54 14% 31% 19% 10% 9% 8% 9%
55-64 11% 30% 21% 10% 9% 12% 7%
65+ 9% 22% 14% 13% 11% 12% 18%

(Morning Consult)

Streaming originals ratings, 2020
Show Network Millions of minutes viewed
Ozark Netflix 30,462
Lucifer Netflix 18,975
The Crown Netflix 16,275
Tiger King Netflix 15,611
The Mandalorian Disney+ 14,519
The Umbrella Academy Netflix 13,470
Great British Baking Show Netflix 13,279
Boss Baby: Back in Business Netflix 12,625
Longmire Netflix 11,382
You Netflix 10,965

(Nielsen)

Streaming movies ratings, 2020
Movie Network Millions of minutes viewed
Frozen II Disney+ 14,924
Moana Disney+ 10,507
Secret Life of Pets 2 Netflix 9,123
Onward Disney+ 8,367
Dr. Suess' The Grinch Netflix 6,180
Hamilton Disney+ 6,132
Spenser Confidential Netflix 5,374
Aladdin (2019) Disney+ 5,172
Toy Story 4 Disney+ 4,416
Zootopia Disney+ 4,400

(Nielsen)

Streaming acquired shows ratings, 2020
Show Network Millions of minutes viewed
The Office Netflix 57,127
Grey's Anatomy Netflix 39,405
Criminal Minds Netflix 35,414
NCIS Netflix 28,134
Schitt's Creek Netflix 23,785
Supernatural Netflix 20,336
Shameless Netflix 18,218
New Girl Netflix 14,545
The Blacklist Netflix 14,480
Vampire Diaries Netflix 14,091

(Nielsen)

COVID-19 Impact on Streaming

U.S. consumers subscribing to at least one new streaming service
July 2020 28%
November 2020 34%
February 2021 44%

(Statista & Hub Entertainment Research)

U.S. adults more likely to watch streaming TV because of COVID by generation
All 41%
Gen Z 47%
Millennials 48%
Gen X 48%
Baby Boomers 30%

(Morning Consult)

U.S. consumers paying to watch first-run movies at home because of COVID
July 2020 19%
November 2020 24%
February 2021 30%

(Statista & Hub Entertainment Research)

Music

For most people, when you ask them to conjure an image of streaming content, they’ll likely jump to a show or film. But music streaming is also incredibly popular, and it’s been a fixture for far longer than video streaming services.

Who’s Listening to Streaming Music?

Paid music streaming subscribers, U.S. in millions
2014 7.9
2015 9.1
2016 20.3
2017 31.5
2018 43.7
2019 58.2
2020 72.1

(Recording Industry Association of America)

Which Music Streaming Platforms Are Most Popular?

Leading music streaming services by U.S. mobile reach
Apple Music 24%
Spotify 24%
Pandora Radio 17%
iHeartRadio 14%
Google Play Music 12%
Amazon Music 9%
SoundCloud 8%
Shazam 7%

(Statista & Verto)

Platforms used by weekly streaming consumers
Spotify 49%
YouTube 37%
Pandora Music 33%
Amazon Music 32%
Apple Music 17%
iTunes 15%
iHeartRadio 15%
YouTube Music 13%
Google Play 12%
SoundCloud 9%
Tidal 2%
Deezer 1%
Napster 1%
Other 6%

(Audience Project)

How Large is the Music Streaming Market?

Streaming music revenue by source, U.S in millions
Year Paid Ad-supported Digital and customized radio
2015 $474 $159 $387
2016 $1,067 $199 $407
2017 $1,712 $273 $493
2018 $2,550 $369 $527
2019 $3,322 $410 $433
2020 $3,792 $421 $468

(Recording Industry Association of America)

Turn It Up: Which Genres Are Played Most Often?

Streaming volume by select top genres
Hip-hop/R&B 31%
Rock 16%
Pop 13%
Country 7%
Latin 6%
Dance/electronic 3%
Christian/gospel 2%
World music 2%
Children 1%
Jazz 1%
Classical 1%

(Billboard)

Podcasts & Other Content

So far, we’ve covered streaming movies, TV shows, and music, but there are many other types of content that can be streamed, including podcasts, online audio and video games. Podcasts and streaming games in particular are enjoying quite a moment right now.

Podcasts

U.S. consumers who have ever listened to a podcast
2006 11%
2007 13%
2008 18%
2009 22%
2010 23%
2011 25%
2012 29%
2013 27%
2014 30%
2015 33%
2016 36%
2017 40%
2018 44%
2019 51%
2020 55%
2021 57%

(Triton Digital)

U.S. monthly podcast listeners in millions
2013 32
2014 40
2015 46
2016 57
2017 65
2018 75
2019 88
2020 103
2021* 120
2022* 140
2023* 164

* Projected

(Activate Consulting)

Podcast consumers by generation
Gen Z 43%
Millennials 48%
Gen X 33%
Boomers 23%
Greatest 17%

(Statista & Jacobs Media Tech Survey)

Most commonly used podcast apps among U.S. podcast listeners
Spotify 25%
Apple Podcasts 20%
Google Podcasts 16%
Pandora 15%
Website 11%
Audible 10%
NPR One 9%
Tune In 8%
Deezer 7%
Podcast Addict 7%
RadioPublic 6%
Stitcher 6%
Overcast 6%
Pocket Casts 6%
CastBox 5%

(eMarketer)

Time of day when listening to podcasts
6-10 a.m. 23%
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 32%
3-7 p.m. 18%
7 p.m. to midnight 21%
Midnight to 6 a.m. 6%

 

Online Radio & Other Audio

Weekly minutes spent with online radio/audio, U.S.
2008 373
2009 391
2010 482
2011 557
2012 586
2013 716
2014 799
2015 773
2016 728
2017 879
2018 820
2019 1003
2020 912
2021 974

(Radio Advertising Bureau)

Monthly online radio/audio reach by age group
12-35 86%
35-54 72%
55+ 46%

(Radio Advertising Bureau)

Video Games

Hours of video game livestreams watched worldwide in billions
2019 4
2020 5
2021 9

* Q1 each year

(Stream Hatchet)

Hours of video game livestreams watched by platform, worldwide in billions
Twitch 6
YouTube Live Gaming 1
Facebook Gaming 1

* Q1 2021

(Stream Hatchet)

Increase in hours watched worldwide, 2019-2021
Facebook Gaming 1,000%
Twitch 144%
YouTube Live Gaming 100%

(Stream Hatchet)

Watch This Page for More

Streaming content is the norm now, and with several types of streaming enjoying massive growth, we’ll keep bringing you the most up-to-date and insightful data when it comes to all things streaming.