Why Your Binge Watch Costs More Than You Think

New research reveals that current metrics ignore 70 percent of streaming emissions, hiding the massive environmental cost of our digital habits

19 Feb 2026

Conventional methods for tracking the environmental impact of the streaming industry are facing fresh scrutiny. Research from IEEE Spectrum suggests that widely used efficiency benchmarks fail to account for the majority of carbon output generated by digital media platforms.

Standard metrics currently focus on data center power usage. This approach captures only 30 per cent of total emissions. The remaining 70 per cent is linked to device manufacturing and software lifecycles, areas often excluded from corporate sustainability frameworks.

This measurement gap emerges as US viewing volumes continue to expand. While energy intensity per hour has fallen over the past decade, the total volume of content consumed has grown fast enough to offset these efficiency gains. Netflix reported 94 billion hours of content streamed in 2024, resulting in an estimated 5.17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Consumer hardware remains the most significant underexplored factor in decarbonisation efforts. Analysis by the Carbon Trust indicates that televisions, laptops, and smartphones account for nearly nine in ten units of emissions generated per hour of streaming. Most platforms do not yet include these figures in public disclosures.

Infrastructure improvements alone may not be sufficient to close the sector's emissions gap. Google has committed to powering its data centers with carbon-free energy by 2030, but researchers argue that broader action on device standards and encoding efficiency is required.

Rising demand from artificial intelligence workloads and next-generation media formats could further erode historical progress. The International Energy Agency has warned that these developments may cancel out existing gains entirely.

Technical standards bodies are currently revising IT sustainability frameworks through 2026. This process could fundamentally change how platforms account for their environmental footprint. For companies reporting progress toward climate commitments, the challenge of measuring total impact remains as significant as the task of reducing emissions.