Streaming is overtaking theaters for movie watchers, an AP-NORC poll
finds
[September 26, 2025]
By LINDSEY BAHR and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are more likely to watch newly released
movies from the comfort of their own homes instead of heading out to a
theater, according to a new poll.
About three-quarters of U.S. adults said they watched a new movie on
streaming instead of in the theater at least once in the past year,
according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public
Affairs Research, including about 3 in 10 who watched new movies on
streaming at least once a month.
Meanwhile, about two-thirds of Americans said that they’ve watched a
recently released movie in a theater in the past year, and only 16% said
they went at least once a month.
The results suggest that, on the whole, American moviegoers are more
likely to stream a film than see it in the theaters, a shifting tide
that was only accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and its
aftermath. Convenience and cost are both factors for many people who
can't find the time to go to a theater or pay the increasingly high
price for a ticket.
Sherry Jenkins, 69, of New Jersey, turns to streaming for all of her
moviegoing needs.
“It’s much more convenient,” Jenkins said. “I can watch anything I want,
I just have to wait a month or two after the movies are released because
they usually go to streaming pretty quickly.”
Streaming is more convenient
In the post-pandemic era, films end up on streaming services more
quickly. In 2017, a 90-day exclusive theatrical window was common. Now,
theaters are fighting for an industrywide standard of 45 days. For
studios, the strategy seems to be different for every movie. This year’s
best picture winner, “Anora,” had a 70-day exclusive theatrical window.
“Wicked,” meanwhile, was available to purchase on demand only 40 days
after opening in theaters — and that was a case in which the film was,
and continued to be, a box-office hit. It was also profitable on
streaming.
There is some overlap between theatergoers and people who opt for
streaming — 55% of U.S. adults have seen a new movie in a theater and
skipped the theater in favor of streaming at least once in the past year
— but only watching new movies on streaming is more common than only
going to the theater.
Some in the film industry believe that movies that start in theaters
still have more cultural cachet, but Jenkins doesn’t see it that way.
“The studios now are so closely affiliated with the streaming services,”
Jenkins said. “There’s really no logic behind why some skip the
theaters.”
The last time she regularly went to the movie theaters was, she thinks,
about 20 years ago. But as a tech-savvy retiree, there just hasn’t been
enough of a reason to make the trek to the theater. A subscriber to
Acorn, BritBox, Paramount+, Peacock, Netflix and Hulu, Jenkins doesn’t
even see the need for cable anymore.
“People tell me, 'Oh, you have to go to the theaters and see ‘Top Gun:
Maverick,’ ” Jenkins said. “But my TV is 75 inches, and I’m comfortable.
I’m at home."
The cost of movie tickets is a factor
Maryneal Jones, 91, of North Carolina, said she likes to go to the
movies but finds them too expensive.
“There’s some movies I would like to see, and I say to myself, I’ll just
wait until they show them on TV or I’ll go visit a friend who has those
apps,” Jones said. “But I just don’t want to pay 12 bucks.”
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Pedestrians walk past the boarded up and closed Cinerama Dome movie
theater, April 12, 2021, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello,
File)
 The average cost of a movie ticket
in the U.S. is $13.17, according to data firm EntTelligence. In
2022, it was $11.76.
Jones does not subscribe to any streaming services, but she also
sees more movies in theaters than many others. She estimates she
sees about six to eight a year. Recent films she’s watched in the
theater include “The Life of Chuck” and the French romantic comedy
“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life."
The AP-NORC poll also indicates that streaming may be a more
accessible option for lower-income Americans. Higher-income adults
are more likely than low-income adults to be at least occasional
moviegoers for new releases, but the gap is smaller for watching
movies on streaming instead of going to the theater.
Younger adults watch more new movies, especially on streaming
New movies are more popular among young adults, regardless of how
they see them. But streaming is more of a go-to for the younger
generation.
Slightly less than half of adults under age 30 say they watched a
recently released movie on streaming instead of going to the theater
at least once a month in the past year, compared with about 2 in 10
who watched a movie in the theater with that frequency.
Eddie Lin, an 18-year-old student in Texas, said he mostly watches
movies at home, on streamers like Crunchyroll, Hulu, HBO Max and
Prime Video, but will go to the theaters for “bigger things" like “A
Minecraft Movie," which is the biggest movie of the year in North
America.
“A couple of my friends wanted to see it,” Lin said. “And there were
the memes. I felt like the audience would be more interactive and it
would be enhanced by being there with, like, a bunch of people.”
While streaming will continue to be formidable competition for
audience attention and dollars, there has also been rising interest
in the value of seeing certain films in IMAX or on other premium
format screens, whether it’s “Sinners” or “Oppenheimer.”
The North American box office is currently up more than 4% from last
year, but the industry has struggled to reach pre-pandemic levels of
business. Compared with 2019, the annual box office is down more
than 22%.
“I used to go more when I was younger, with my family, seeing all
the Marvel movies up to ‘Endgame,’ " Lin said. “I like movie
theaters. It's an experience. For me, it's mostly a time thing. But
I do feel like a certain charm of watching movies in theaters is
gone.”
___
Bahr reported from Pittsburgh.
___
The AP-NORC poll of 1,182 adults was conducted Aug. 21-25, using a
sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which
is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin
of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.8 percentage
points.
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