Cable television was once the favorite media for teenagers. Teens would look forward to their afternoon lineup, of their favorite tv shows. Since 2015, cable viewing by teenagers has been nearly cut in half. Why? Netflix and Youtube have become the two leading sources of video content.
From 2015 until now, teenagers watching cable tv has fallen from 29% to 15%. Meanwhile, Netflix and YouTube viewership by teenagers has skyrocketed to nearly 70%. So why the drastic change? Roughly 91% of teenagers have cell phones with internet, which allows easy access to streaming and video platforms. Netflix offers a variety of shows and movies without the interruption of commercials and advertisements. YouTube offers music, movies and videos that are incredibly appealing to teens, and the content tends to be shorter which keeps their attention span. Also, streaming can be significantly cheaper than a cable subscription
Generation Z is the demographic that is most responsible for this massive shift from cable to streaming. Most kids born after 1997 don’t really know what it was like before social media, internet, and smartphones. According to a survey conducted by Business Insider, only 2% of gen-z teens use cable as their number one source for video content. These numbers could be a preview into the future video entertainment.