Streaming Heats Up July, Accounts For Nearly Half of All TV Viewing

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(Image credit: Pixabay)

NEW YORK—Streaming viewership continued to heat up this summer in July as its portion of the time spent watching TV edged closer to the 50% threshold, according to Nielsen’s monthly report of The Gauge, which provides a snapshot of total TV and streaming consumption.

Driven by an influx of streaming options across platforms, streaming usage trended upward slightly as audiences spent a record 47.3% of overall TV viewing time in July watching content on streaming platforms. In contrast, broadcast accounted for only 18.4% and cable just 22.2% during a month that often sees declines in broadcast and cable viewing, the researchers found. (See chart below).

Netflix rode the momentum of a strong June into July, notching a 5% monthly viewing increase to achieve a platform record of 8.8% of TV, Nielsen reported. Netflix’s consecutive monthly uptick was driven by a continued steady flow of new releases among original and acquired titles, which led the streamer to represent eight of July’s top 10 streaming titles. Its original series "Squid Game" was this month’s most watched title with 5.4 billion viewing minutes.

Peacock also carried some of its June momentum into July as its original series "Love Island USA" was this month’s second most-streamed title with 5.3 billion viewing minutes. Overall Peacock was up 3% versus June and added 0.1 share points to tie its non-Olympic monthly record of 1.6% of TV.

Broadcast and cable were each affected by standard summer programming slates, which remained light on sports and original shows before those return on a larger scale in the fall, Nielsen noted.

Broadcast’s 18.4% share of TV was helped slightly by a 28% increase in news viewing, which was illustrated by ABC World News Tonight collecting 19 of this month’s top 20 broadcast telecasts. The MLB All-Star Game on Fox took the remaining slot at 13th.

Cable finished with 22.2% of TV watch-time in July. Although it exhibited monthly declines in news (-11%) and sports (-17%) viewing, with the latter feeling the absence of the NBA Playoffs, the MLB Home Run Derby on ESPN was the bright spot, topping cable telecasts for July with 5.3 million viewers.

Nielsen The Gauge data on TV viewing

(Image credit: Nielsen The Gauge)
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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.