How often are kids watching linear TV?

MTM's latest finds that while monthly viewing has stayed consistent, daily viewing is down considerably over the last two years.
By Patti Summerfield
May 1, 2023

Like adults, kids are faced with a flood of viewing content choices every day. The latest report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM) provides an overview of TV viewing and other video sources popular with kids under 18.

The bottom line is that traditional TV is still popular among kids, despite declines in recent years.

The report found that 71% of children have watched linear TV in the past month, roughly on par with its popularity in 2020 (72%) but less than in 2021 (78%). Children aged two to six are more likely to be traditional TV viewers (74%) than those aged seven to 11 (70%) or teens (68%). Among kids two to six, 37% watch linear TV content, daily as do 33% of the seven to 11 age group, and 26% of 12- to 17-year-olds.

That said, kids are less likely to be watching traditional TV than SVOD services like Netflix and Disney+ (84%) or YouTube (83%).

While many kids have access to a paid TV service, this doesn’t mean they are watching it on a daily basis. Households with children are as likely to have a paid TV service now as they were prior to the 2020 pandemic, but children’s daily viewership of traditional TV has fallen from 44% to 32%. Daily viewership also decreases with each successive age bracket, with 37% of two- to six-year-olds watching daily, compared to 33% of seven- to 11-year-olds and 26% of teens.

Treehouse is the most popular channel with two- to six-year-olds, watched by 41% in the last month. Looking at all kids aged two to 17, Disney Channel is watched by 19%, Nickelodeon by 17% and Disney Jr. and YTV both by 16%. Outside of kid-focused networks, CTV is watched by 25% of 12-to-17-year-olds, 13% of two- to six-year-olds and 15% of seven- to 11-year-olds.

Viewing of these channels has shifted over the past year. Disney Channel saw a notable decline in monthly viewing from 32% in 2021, while Disney Jr., YTV and Teletoon each declined by 5% year-over-year. Viewership of Treehouse, CTV and Nickelodeon has remained relatively stable.

Earlier this year, Corus announced that Teletoon would be leaving linear TV, living on exclusively as its kids-focused streaming brand. In its place, the company will be running a new version of Cartoon Network, with the previous Cartoon Network Canada being replaced by retro animation channel Boomerang.