Smart TV Usage Statistics 2026

Smart TV usage keeps getting deeper, not just broader. The latest numbers show rising household ownership, more weekly streaming through built-in TV apps, stronger reliance on TV home screens for discovery, and continued movement toward ad-supported streaming.

Key smart TV usage statistics

• 82% of U.S. TV households own a smart TV in 2025, up from 79% in 2024 and 70% in 2021.
• 66% of U.S. TV households watch streaming video on a smart TV at least weekly in 2025, up from 62% in 2024 and 47% in 2021.
• 61% of U.S. internet households with at least one connected TV device now use a smart TV as their primary streaming device.
• Smart TVs are present in 68% of U.S. internet households, according to Parks Associates.
• Samsung Tizen is the most-used smart TV operating system among U.S. smart TV owners at 34%.
• Roku surpassed 90 million streaming households in early January 2025 and says its platform is in nearly half of all U.S. broadband households.
• Streaming reached 47.5% of total U.S. TV viewing in December 2025, a record level in Nielsen’s The Gauge.
• Globally, streaming platforms account for 50.1% of the total time connected adults spend watching television.
• 91.7% of online adults consume some form of streaming TV content each month.
• In the UK, 68% of households received at least one subscription video service in Q1 2025, the same level as in 2021.
• Ofcom found that 27% of UK children aged 4 to 15 choose SVoD first when turning on the TV, versus 26% who choose a linear channel and 20% who choose a video-sharing service. Among adults aged 16 to 34, 30% choose SVoD first and 30% choose a linear channel first.
• The share of UK in-home YouTube time watched on a TV set rose from 34% in 2023 to 41% in 2024.
• 23% of UK adults do not connect their smart TV to the internet through any means.
• In Ireland, access to smart TVs reached 72% in 2024, and 81% of those with access use them daily.
• In the Netherlands, 70% of households have a smart TV.
• In Belgium, smart TVs are present in 67% of households, and baby boomers were the fastest adopters with 21% year-over-year growth.
• Nearly half of UK connected TV viewers, 48%, rely on the TV home screen to decide what to watch, and about two-thirds use built-in TV search to jump directly to content.
• Among those UK viewers, the average time from powering on the TV to actually starting something is more than 12 minutes.
• Across the EU5, Samsung Smart TV users visit the home screen about five times per day on average.
• Samsung TV Plus surpassed 100 million monthly active users globally in January 2026, while streaming hours increased 25% year over year in 2025.
• LG Ad Solutions reports that 67% of connected TV viewers now prefer free ad-supported content, 36% canceled at least one paid streaming subscription in the past year, and 24% plan to add a FAST service in the next 12 months.

U.S. smart TV household ownership

Hub Entertainment Research data shows that smart TV ownership in U.S. TV households kept climbing in 2025.

Max = 82. Widths: 2021 85.37%, 2024 96.34%, 2025 100.00%.

Weekly smart TV streaming in U.S. TV households

Usage has also increased sharply, with weekly streaming on smart TVs rising from 47% of U.S. TV households in 2021 to 66% in 2025.

Max = 66. Widths: 2021 71.21%, 2024 93.94%, 2025 100.00%.

What the latest smart TV usage data shows

Three patterns stand out. First, smart TVs are now the main streaming gateway in many homes, especially in the U.S. Second, discovery is increasingly happening on the TV itself through home screens, built-in search, and operating-system interfaces. Third, cheaper and free ad-supported viewing is becoming more important as subscription fatigue grows.

Sources

• Hub Entertainment Research summary via MarketingCharts
• Parks Associates
• Roku newsroom
• Nielsen The Gauge
• DataReportal and GWI
• Ofcom Media Nations 2025 and Future of TV Distribution
• Deloitte Ireland, Netherlands, and Belgium
• LG Ad Solutions
• Samsung Ads and Samsung TV Plus