YouTube Takes the Lead in Teens' Daily Video Consumption

YouTube and Netflix have been the top platforms for teens’ daily video viewing for several years now, with Netflix edging ahead in terms of share of daily time in recent years. However, a slight rebound for YouTube and a larger drop for Netflix mean that YouTube now garners a slightly larger share of US teens’ daily video viewing time than Netflix, according to the latest semi-annual report from Piper Sandler.

Recent research suggests that Netflix is losing some of its dominance in the streaming market and that other major streaming platforms are becoming destinations for viewers’ favorite content. Additionally, free streaming services may be leading to decreased viewing of SVOD platforms, according to a recent study.

It’s against this backdrop that YouTube has taken the lead with teens, though only ever-so-slightly. In this latest survey it accounted for an estimated average 29.3% share of teens’ daily video viewing time, just ahead of Netflix’s 28.5%.

The last time – and only time – YouTube was ahead of Netflix in share of viewing time was 4 years ago, in the Fall 2019 survey.

Meanwhile, a video platform in decline among teens is cable TV. Teens estimated averaging just under 5% of their daily video time with cable TV. While that hasn’t changed much over the past couple of years, it’s down from 9% in the Fall of 2020 and 12% in the Fall of 2019.

To put this latest sub-5% figure in context, each of the following platforms gets a higher share of teens’ daily video viewing time than cable: Amazon Prime; HBO Max; Disney+; and Hulu. The 5+% share for Amazon Prime is the highest on record.

Finally, 43% of teens said that they do not have cable TV in their household, which is just a point below the record high of 44% reported in the previous, Spring 2023 survey. An additional 8% share indicate that they’re planning to cancel their cable subscription over the next 6 months. If those plans were to hold true, only about half (or slightly below) teens would have cable in their household.

➤About the Data: The Fall 2023 findings are based on a survey of 9,193 US teens with an average age of 15.7 and an average household income of $70,725.