Sleep & Entertainment
We end our ‘The State of Sleep’ series on a fun note.
In this last installment of our series, we explore everything related to sleep and entertainment. Specifically, what role does entertainment play in people’s bedtime routines? What are their sources of entertainment before going to sleep? What are people laughing, crying, or screaming to - yes, screaming to - during their last waking moments of the day?
Let’s pull up the curtain and find out…it’s showtime.
Whether it’s watching TV, listening to music or podcasts, or playing games on the phone, entertainment is a crucial part of people’s bedtime routine.
Nearly everyone unwinds to some form of entertainment: Over 9-in-10 adults in the United States selects some form of entertainment - TV, music, podcasts, games, books, etc. - when asked what they do to unwind before going to bed.
TV still dominates as an entertainment source, but experiences a decline over time: about two-thirds (67%) of adults say they watch TV before going to bed, a 7-point decline from when we asked the same question in our 2017 Sleep Census (76%).
Music and playing games are more commonplace now than in 2017: over a third of adults (35%) say they unwind to bed by listening to music, a 10-point increase from 2017 (25%). A similar increase is observed in the proportion of adults who say they play games on their phone before bed (35% in 2023 vs. 26% in 2017).
Podcasts are lulling more people to sleep now than six years ago: in 2023, over 1-in-10 (12%) adults said they unwind to a podcast before bed. While this form of entertainment is less common than TV or music, it also experienced a 3x increase from 2017.
Republicans and Democrats unwind in different ways before bed: a higher proportion of Republicans watch TV and read books before going to bed, while a higher share of their compatriots across the aisle opt for listening to music and podcasts.
Everyone deserves a moment of relaxing entertainment at the end of the day, especially if it’s been a tough one. But are people amusing themselves to insomnia? Our data shows that might be the case.
Entertainment is keeping people up longer than they’d like: nearly 4-in-10 (37%) adults say they stay up longer than they’d like because they are watching TV, listening to music, or playing games on their phones, which represents a 23% increase from 2017.
To binge or not to binge: more people are binging shows before going to bed in 2023 than they were in 2017. In fact, the proportion of adults who say they watch at least 2-3 episodes before drifting off to the land of nod increased by 52% from 2017 to 2023 (31% vs. 47% of adults).
Netflix is the primary streaming platform keeping people up: nearly 8-in-10 (78%) people who who binge on TV shows before going to bed say they’re watching Netflix. Further down the list are Hulu (54%), Amazon Video (44%), Disney+ (37%), and max (34%).
So what are people watching that keeps them from getting that much-needed sleep?
People keep it light-hearted for the most part, with some added drama: the most watched genre before going to sleep is comedy (60% of adults say they watch it), followed by drama (55%). These were also the top genres in 2017, signaling a consistency in preference over the years.
More jolts and screams, please: a higher proportion of adults choose to watch thrillers and horror before bed in 2023 than in 2017. Horror in particular grew in preference by nearly 50% over the last six years (25% of adults selected it recently vs. 17% in 2017). While horror and sleep seem to be at odds with each other, some experts say that horror movies can have surprising benefits for anxiety and stress.
