People Under 45 Watch Digital Video More Than Traditional TV

Watching digital – downloaded or streaming – video is now a more popular weekly activity for people under the ages of 45 than watching traditional TV, according to MarketingCharts’ 4th Annual US Media Audience Demographics report.

The report indicates that digital video surpassed traditional TV among 35-44-year-olds for the first time last year.

The findings are supported by a recent PwC study that found a surge in popularity for streaming video services among Gen Xers.

Older adults remain firmly in traditional TV’s corner, however. Among those ages 65 and older, for example, 93% use a TV set at least once a week to watch live, recorded, on-demand or pay-per-view TV (traditional TV), almost double the share (49%) who watch downloaded or streaming video.

There are some keen differences in video preferences when examining races and ethnicities, too. Non-Hispanic Black adults are considerably more likely to watch traditional TV (85%) than digital video (69%) on a weekly basis, as are non-Hispanic Whites (87% and 73%, respectively). But Hispanic adults are just as likely to watch digital video as traditional TV.