Nielsen: Streaming Accounts for One Third of All TV Viewing

family watching TV
(Image credit: Getty Images)

 NEW YORK—Streaming audiences continue to hit record levels, with Nielsen’s The Gauge reporting that streaming now accounts for one third of all TV viewing (33.7%). 

As streaming gained six share points in the last year to climb to record levels, broadcast and cable viewing continued to decline as a percentage of total TV viewing. June 2022 saw the smallest shares of broadcast (only 22.4%) and cable (35.1%) since Nielsen launched its monthly snapshot of TV viewing The Gauge in May of 2021. 

(Image credit: Nielsen's The Gauge)

As previously reported, The Gauge also reported a record level of viewing for Netflix, which despite its sub losses, accounted for 7.7% of all TV viewing in June of 2022. 

Total time spent watching TV in June increased slightly (+2%) from May, bolstered by an 8% uptick in streaming volume over the same interval. Time spent streaming jumped 23.5% on a year-over-year basis allowing the digital format to add 6 percentage points to its share of TV in 12 months.

The rising share of streaming viewing, also produced record-high viewing shares in June for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and YouTube (including YouTubeTV). 

Viewers spent 16% more time watching Netflix versus last month, and as a result, Netflix gained a full share point from May and captured 7.7% of total TV viewing—the largest month-to-month growth ever for a streaming platform. 

Compared to June 2021, all reported streaming platforms in The Gauge have seen significant growth in viewing, led by Amazon Prime Video (+31.9%), Disney+ (+22%) and Netflix (+18.1%), Nielsen reported. 

While cable viewing in June fell 2% from the previous month, the category lost 1.4 share points of TV usage over the same period. As cord cutting continues, cable continues to show some of the largest year-over-year shifts of any viewing category, dropping 5 percentage points and -11.9% in viewing compared to June 2021.

Due to the conclusion of the traditional broadcast TV season, time spent watching broadcast was down 6.7% in June compared to May, and the share of viewing declined 2.1 percentage points. While these declines are fairly typical for this time of year, broadcast viewing this month was down 3.9% compared to June 2021, and a full share point lower.

George Winslow

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.