Streaming at record high in the US says Nielsen

Source: Nielsen

Streaming reached another record high for market share in the US in April.

According to Nielsen’s The Gauge monthly TV viewing snapshot, streaming captured 30.4% of total TV viewing in the US in April. This was up from 29.7%, a previous record high, the month prior. 

Overall TV viewing in the US was down 2.1% from March, but streaming volume was virtually identical, Nielsen said.

The report also noted that HBO Max achieved a 1% share of streaming for the first time. Unsurprisingly, Netflix was the largest single streaming operator and accounted for 6.6% of all viewing in the US in April. It was followed by YouTube (6.1%), Hulu (3.3%), Prime Video (2.5%) and Disney+ (1.7%). The other streaming category, which includes players such as Paramount+ and Peacock made up 9.2% of all US viewing in April.

Broadcast viewing meanwhile was down 3% in April and lose 0.2 share points from March. This, Nielsen said, is due to a nearly 15% decrease in content from the Drama genre as season finales began to air. Sports experienced a 38% drop on broadcast networks, while broadcast news viewing was flat.

Lastly, the report notes that cable lost 0.2 share points in April and saw a month over month usage decline of 2.5%. Sports viewing on cable increased 17% due to the NBA playoffs and the NCAA Final Four, but cable news saw its first downward trend in several months for balance.