Like MTV, VH1 ultimately drifted away from music videos and into reality television programming, albeit with a focus on music personalities and celebrities, and shows targeting African American audiences.

According to the results of a survey held in the United States in February 2020, White adults were most likely to watch or stream TV shows every day, with 51 percent of respondents reporting daily consumption, although consumption was similar for Hispanic and African American ethnic groups with 50 percent each.

Those ages 65 and older were the most likely to watch TV—89.2 percent did so on a given day in the 2013–17 period. This group also had more leisure and sports time overall than the other populations shown in chart 2, averaging 7 hours 8 minutes per day.

Over the past year, the primetime ratings for broadcast television have dropped precipitously. For example, during the week of April 5, 2021, the average primetime audience for ABC, CBS VIAC -0.5% , NBC and Fox were down by 16% compared to the identical week in 2020.

Watching television, including watching live programming, viewing DVDs, and streaming shows on TV sets, computers and portable devices, occupied the most time in 2020 of any leisure activity, ranging from more than 5 hours per day for those 75 and older to just over 2 hours per day for those ages 35 to 44.

United States
Media > Television viewing: Countries Compared

Some people also watch lots of TV because they feel they don’t have any other options — perhaps they no longer drive, their family lives far away, friends have died, or they have chronic illnesses or pain that make it difficult to do other activities.

Since the repeats, “The Talk” originals without Osbourne averaged 1.305 million total viewers from April 12 through May 16, a loss of 204,000 each day, a 14% drop.

According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year).

7. In 2021, only 56% of Americans watch satellite or cable TV. The percentage of people that watch cable TV in the United States has significantly dropped – by 20%. Even more revealing cord-cutting statistics for 2021 show that over 60% of those that don’t use the services were subscribers at some point.

This statistic shows the average time spent watching TV by individuals in the United States in 2018, broken down by race and ethnicity. In 2018, TV consumption was most prevalent among African Americans who watched an average of 3.55 hours of TV each day.

Traditional TV reached just 62% of 18-34-year-olds during the third quarter (compared to 80% of the adult population). By comparison, 89% of 18-34-year-olds used the internet on smartphones during the quarter.

The percentage decline (-11.1%) in viewing among traditional TV viewers was not as acute as among the general 18-34-year-old population, indicating that cord-cutting had a role to play in the overall drop in viewing numbers. What About Other Age Groups?