Key insights:

  • Personal recommendations lead TV discovery, with 58% of men and 63% of women finding new shows through friends, family or colleagues.
  • Social media is the dominant discovery channel for Gen Z, used by 71%, compared with 53% of Millennials and just 32% of Baby Boomers.
  • Women are more likely than men to discover shows via social media (53% vs. 47%), while men rely more on trailers (40% vs. 34%).

Finding a new TV show used to mean flicking through channels or trusting whatever was on after the evening news. Today, discovery looks a little different and often starts with a scroll or a recommendation on a streaming service that begins with ‘top picks for you’.

Research data from YouGov Profiles data looks at how Americans adults who spend more than an hour a week streaming find out about new TV shows and who’s really in charge of the remote.

Friends' suggestion matters more among women

Across the board, personal recommendations dominate, but women lean into them more. Nearly two-thirds of female streamers (63%) say they find new shows through friends, family, or colleagues, compared with 58% of men.

Men, meanwhile, are a bit more evenly split between human advice and machine guidance. Over half (55%) say they rely on viewing suggestions from streaming services, a figure that climbs among women (58%).

The biggest gap shows up on social platforms. More than half of women (53%) say they discover new shows through social media, compared with 47% of men. Trailers, by contrast, appeal more to men (40%) than women (34%) perhaps showing that the traditional “coming soon” preview still has a role for some audiences.

Gen Z lives on social, and it shows

Gen Z stands apart as the most socially driven group by far. Seven in 10 say they find new TV shows via social media (71%), far outpacing Millennials (53%), Gen X (38%), and Baby Boomers (32%).

That doesn’t mean Gen Z ignores recommendations from people they know. In fact, 67% still rely on friends, family, or colleagues, the highest share of any generation.

Millennials sit comfortably in the middle, with 62% relying on personal recommendations, while 54% take cues from streaming platforms themselves. Social media also plays a major role (53%), putting Millennials on par with women overall. Trailers (38%) still matter, but less so than social buzz or platform suggestions.

Gen X and Boomers let the platforms lead

Older generations are less likely to discover shows via social media. Some 58% of Gen X come across TV shows via suggestions from streaming services and 57% through personal recommendations. Baby Boomers lean even more heavily on platform guidance, with 59% relying on streaming suggestions, the highest share of any generation.

That doesn’t mean Boomers are immune to word of mouth. Just over half (53%) still turn to friends and family, but social media plays a much smaller role.

What this means for businesses

The takeaway is less about one dominant channel and more about knowing your audience. Younger viewers are finding shows where they already spend their time: on social platforms while older audiences are happy to be guided by the services they trust. Across every group, however, personal recommendations remain a powerful driver.

Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data through rolling surveys, rather than a single limited questionnaire. Figures are drawn from responses collected between December 2024 to December 2025, using a 52-week dataset updated weekly. Data is nationally representative of adults (18+) in the US and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race.

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