Young Adult Media Consumption: 5 Key Figures for 2025

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How do young adults consume media? Médiamétrie reveals the media habits of 15-24 year-olds in 2025. SVoD, social networks, hybrid video viewing, and web browsing: discover the key figures driving an ultra-connected and mobile generation.

 

Multi-faceted media consumption

Daily Screen Time Dominated by Hybrid Video Viewing

Young adults spend a significant amount of time watching video content every day. On average, 15-24 year-olds spend 3 hours and 33 minutes daily watching videos.

Far from traditional, linear linear This is when a live television program is watched exactly at the time it airs, in timeshifting (control over live TV) or private delay (personal recording). Find out more viewing alone, this generation adopts a hybrid viewing approach. They constantly switch between linear TV channels, SVoD services, and video-centric social platforms such as YouTube or Twitch, which are hugely popular among young adults.

Mobility and Out-of-Home Co-Viewing

Mobility and shared experiences are key characteristics of this target target A subset of the population which we aim to reach with a show or advertising campaign. The target is defined using socio-demographic, equipment, or behavioural characteristics. Find out more audience audience The set of listeners, viewers, or TV viewers in which each individual is equally weighted, regardless of their listening/viewing duration or frequency of contact. Find out more . In fact, 22% of TV viewing among 15-24 year-olds occurs out of home out of home Since 30 March 2020, for individuals aged 15 years and older, Médiamat has included the audience of television programmes viewed outside the home and whilst on the move on television sets, computers, smartphones and tablets. This includes, for example, audience viewing with relatives or friends, or else in a second home, hotel, holiday rental, workplace, bar, restaurant, train station, airport, public place, car, train, bus, etc. Find out more , compared to just 7% for the rest of the French population population The universe of a survey composed of basic statistical units. These units may be physical persons, households, companies, municipalities, etc. The population serves as a sampling frame for selecting a sample, and as a basis for calculation of the extrapolations from the sample. Find out more .

Drawn to social venues and shared moments, these young adults strongly favor co-viewing during major events, particularly sports featuring French teams. Case in point: 39% of them watched the latest Champions League final outside their homes.

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Record Web Browsing Time Dedicated to Social Media and Messaging

Young adults' total online time has reached historic levels. On average, this generation spends 4 hours and 53 minutes per day browsing the web, nearly 2 hours more than the French national average average The average is one of the most important statistical indicators for a set of numbers. By default, it is the arithmetic mean, calculated by adding the values in the set and then dividing that sum by the number of values. Find out more .

Communication and social interactions account for most of this online activity: 61% of this web browsing time is spent on social networks and messaging apps, a habit that continues to grow, up by 3 percentage points in one year.

Top 5 Apps Used by 15-24 Year-Olds

Social platform usage is led by a clear generational ranking of apps:

  1. Snapchat: The clear leader in this Top 5, used daily by 77% of 15-24 year-olds.
  2. Instagram: Takes second place, right behind the long-time leader.
  3. WhatsApp: Ranks third among the most-used messaging services.
  4. Facebook: Drops to fourth place among young adults, despite remaining the number one app for users over 25.
  5. TikTok: Rounds out the Top 5, with 46% of 15-24 year-olds using it daily.

SVoD Takes Center Stage with High Affinity Affinity The ratio (expressed as a percentage or as an index) of the audience for a target to the total audience of a format, show, time slot, etc. The higher the affinity value, the higher the audience of the target is above the average. Find out more for Reality TV and Anime

Access to subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) platforms has grown exponentially within this demographic. Today, 70% of 15-24 year-olds use SVoD, marking a massive 16-point surge over 5 years.

Beyond mainstream movies and TV shows, these young adults show a strong content affinity for specific niche genres, namely reality TV and animated shows (anime).