Americans now watch more things on TV from streaming services than broadcast or cable TV.
Streaming platforms, led by Netflix, in July 2022 for the first time overtook cable networks to claim the largest share of US television viewing for the month, according to new data from Nielsen. It was only a matter of time before this milestone was reached, as streaming usage continued to rise while traditional television declined amid the constant drip loss of wire-cutting.
For the month of July, live-streaming among US TV homes accounted for a record 34.8% share of total consumption, while cable and broadcasting came in at 34.4% and 21.6%, respectively. Broadcast usage has surpassed broadcast usage before, but this is the first time it has also exceeded cable width.
Netflix again had the largest share of total TV viewing among streaming platforms at 8.0%. That was driven by nearly 18 billion minutes of watching “Stranger Things 4” alone for the month of July as well as nearly 11 billion minutes of combined viewing for “Virgin River” and “The Umbrella Academy.” In addition, the Netflix original films “The Sea Beast” and “The Gray Man,” starring Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas and Chris Evans, contributed more than 5 billion minutes per Nielsen.
Season 2 of “Only Building Murders” and “Bear” helped Hulu’s record 3.6% stake in July 2022, which together ran for nearly 3 billion minutes. Amazon Prime Video’s 3.0% share was driven by the new series “The Terminal List” and new episodes of “The Boys,” which garnered more than 8 billion minutes of watch time combined.
Overall, July live stream usage increased 3.2% compared to June and gained 1.1 engagement points. Average time spent streaming in July was approximately 191 billion minutes per week, and each of the five measurement weeks in July 2022 now accounts for five of the six weeks of highest volume streaming on record, according to Nielsen.
Cable usage in July was down 2% and down -0.7 points compared to June, and on an annualized basis, cable usage was down -8.9% and -3.3 points share. Sports viewing recorded the biggest drop in the cable TV category, down -15.4% from June and -34% from last year when the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics began.
Meanwhile, broadcast TV viewing – which has historically seen a lull in new content until the start of the fall season in September – fell -3.7% in July versus June and represented a -0.8 engagement point loss. On a monthly basis, watching sports broadcasts decreased by -41% in July compared to June, and the annual comparison showed a decrease of -43%. The NHL and NBA playoffs in June 2022 and July 2021 have contributed significantly to the similarities in the monthly and annual drop in sports broadcast viewing, as well as the start of the Summer Olympics in July 2021.
Note that the Nielsen comparisons here only include programming shown on televisions and Internet-connected televisions – it does not take into account mobile broadcasts or the web. Nielsen’s The Gauge Report combines two separately distributed palettes. Streaming data is derived from a subset of Streaming Meter-enabled US television families within the Nielsen National TV panel, and linear TV sources and aggregate usage are based on viewing from the Nielsen National TV panel overall.
Source: Nielsen National TV Panel Data plus streaming video ratings
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