Four social media platforms have a bigger Gen Z audience than linear TV

Article by Jasmine Enberg | Aug 26, 2024

They are YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.

There are also more Gen X social network users than linear TV viewers, and YouTube is closing in.

TikTok and Snapchat will both have roughly 10 million more Gen Z users than linear TV will this year. Both are considered Gen Z darlings, so that’s not necessarily surprising. But the distance between the two platforms and linear TV is still remarkable. Even so, YouTube will remain by far the top platform among Gen Zers, used monthly by 89.3% of 12- to 27-year-olds in 2024, per our forecast.

In 2023, Instagram overtook linear TV in terms of Gen Z users for the first time. Instagram has had a larger monthly millennial audience than linear TV since 2021. Last year, there were roughly 5 million more Gen Z Instagram users than Gen Z linear TV viewers. The uptick in Instagram user growth among this age cohort has largely been driven by Reels.
Among Gen X, the gap between the number of YouTube and linear TV viewers is starting to close. In 2026, there will be only 400,000 fewer Gen X YouTube viewers (47.4 million) than TV viewers (47.8 million). But that’s happening as a result of linear TV’s decline rather than YouTube’s growth. There are already more Gen X social network users (51.7 million) than linear TV viewers (48.5 million) in 2024. Alone, no single social network’s audience comes close to that of linear TV.