Streaming Overtakes Cable Viewing For The First Time In The US
For the first time ever, more people in the United States are watching streaming platforms than cable or broadcast television.
According to some new data from Nielsen’s monthly Gauge platform ranking for July 2022, streaming accounted for 34.8% of all TV usage in the United States, while cable came in at 34.4% and broadcast television came in at 21.6%. This is the lowest point for cable and broadcast in the 14 months that Nielsen has been releasing its platform rankings. It’s also worth noting that the streaming figure is actually a little higher, as Nielsen doesn’t count streaming from cable set-top boxes.
The success of the fourth season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” had the biggest impact on bringing in more viewers, but shows how streaming is so vital to the traditional media companies like Disney, as linear television usage slips away each month.
Currently, Netflix is the most watched streaming service, with YouTube not far behind. Disney’s streaming services account for over 5%, with 3.6% of viewing done per month on Hulu, while Disney+ has 1.8%.
By comparison, in July 2012, streaming accounted for 28.3% of all viewing, showing a 22% growth over the last year. Compared to cable and broadcast TV dropping.
This is one of the major reasons why the studios are focused on their streaming services, as the number of people using streaming platforms is expected to keep rising as people cut the cord on cable TV.
Source – THR