Commentary

What If TikTok Was A Mid-Size Cable Network?

by Joe Mandese , November 20, 2025

Pew Research Center this morning updated its estimates for social media usage among American adults, finding that YouTube still dominates with 84% of the population, followed by Facebook (71%), Instagram (50%) and TikTok (37%).

That stat is based on Pew's survey among those Americans who say they ever use each of those platforms, but another Pew survey finds much lower penetration among those who regularly use them -- daily or several times a day.

And while I know we live in an increasingly hyper-fragmented media world, where old standards for reach and frequency no longer seem to apply, eyeballing Pew's updates made me think that the most-distributed social media platform's coverage of America is only about as big as cable TV was in its prime (about 84% in 2010).

Putting aside the role of vMVPDs, cable's coverage is now about a third of the population, and according to Nielsen, about 22% of TV viewing share.

I'm pointing this out because I think we need to reframe how we think about reach when a platform like TikTok is only even used by about a third of Americans, yet attracts a disproportionate share of ad-industry mindset, including among planners and buyers.

That said, there is an even more compelling stat to justify its attention, which is the share of younger Americans who are spending their time there (see below).

attention, cable tv, facebook, instagram, media buying, media measurement, media planning, reddit, research, social media, television, tiktok, youtube

3 comments about "What If TikTok Was A Mid-Size Cable Network?".

Check to receive email when comments are posted.

Dan C. from MS Entertainment, November 21, 2025 at 4:58 p.m.
If the coveted demographic by advertisers is 18 to 34-year-olds, and TikTok consistently leads with engagement rates that are multiples higher than other major platforms, then why would you consider that disproportionate attention?

Reply

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, November 23, 2025 at 4:20 p.m.

Regarding comparisons between Cable at its prime and You Tube, let's remember that at that time--roughly 2000-2015--cable's collective share of viewing was about 40-50%and just about every cable home resident watched --on average--about 5-8 channels weekly. You Tube has a much smaller audience by comparison--only 13% of all viewing and, per other sources--only about a 60-65% reach in terms of users who devolte something like two hours per day to 18-20 videos.

Kenny Kurtz from Persuasion Marketing And Media replied, November 24, 2025 at 7:32 a.m.

The better question night revolve around why 18-34 remains such a coveted demographic. Mr. Mandese referenced rethinking "reach." No matter how frequently the younger among us are frenetically mucking around on TikTok, I'm not convinced they're truly being "reached." Nor am I convinced, what with the very compelling expose on AI virtually eliminating so many entry level jobs for the 21 to 25 demographic I recently read, that the young among us actually have the wherewithal to purchase much of anything.