Americans spend an average of 3 hours and 54 minutes a day with YouTube, TikTok and other social video—more than the 3 hours and 20 minutes they spend with live TV and streaming services combined—according to Attest’s 2026 Attention Economy Report.
The study, based on surveys of 1,000 U.S. and 1,000 U.K. adults plus five years of tracking data, concludes that creator content is now more popular than streaming or traditional television. “YouTube hasn’t just become an alternative to TV, it’s already ahead of it,” the report states. Twenty-three percent of Americans primarily watch YouTube on their televisions.
On a typical weekday, 90% of Americans access YouTube, compared with 79% for streaming services and 73% for live TV. Time spent on those platforms is closer: streaming averages 1 hour 49 minutes, YouTube 1 hour 46 minutes, and live TV 1 hour 31 minutes.
Younger viewers drive the gap. Gen Z watches 2 hours 25 minutes of YouTube a day on average, ahead of Millennials (1 hour 55 minutes), Gen X (1 hour 18 minutes) and Boomers (53 minutes). Men watch more than women overall (2 hours 9 minutes versus 1 hour 23 minutes).
The shift does not mean audiences only want short clips. Two-thirds of people regularly watch YouTube videos longer than 15 minutes; 53% do so on Facebook or Instagram and 39% on TikTok. Platforms that launched short-form products with strict length limits have repeatedly expanded those limits, the report says, “visibly chasing consumer demand for longer content, not just short clips.”
Attention to traditional TV itself is fragmented. Only 12% of viewers give TV their full attention with no other activity. The other 88% multitask; 68% are second-screening—scrolling social media, shopping, searching, messaging or gaming.
Ad tolerance has stayed relatively consistent even as viewing has moved to streaming and social platforms that now carry more ads. People say ads become excessive every 14 minutes on streamed TV and every 12 minutes on social video, a threshold that barely changes by generation.
Behavior does differ: 82% of Gen Z always or usually skip ads on social video, versus 46% of Boomers; on streamed TV the figures are 68% versus 36%. When ads cannot be skipped, only 44% keep watching as intended, 34% look elsewhere, 17% mute the ad and 3% stop watching.