For the first time, Americans spent more time watching streaming services than cable content.
Key details
In July, streaming made up more than one-third of all television consumption in the U.S. Netflix continues to be the top streaming platform, taking 7.7% of total share last month. YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ increased their share of viewing time last month to 7.3%, 3%, and 1.8%, while HBO Max held steady at 1%, according to data from Nielsen’s monthly Gauge study of TV consumption.
Streaming services are climbing up the ranks fast, but traditional TV, which includes both cable and broadcast, collectively makes up the majority of TV viewing in the U.S.
Why it’s news
Streaming services have slowly been eating into cable’s market share over the last decade, but cable has remained strong. But this news suggests that the tide has turned.
If the popularity of streaming continues to rise and the popularity of cable continues to decline at its current rate, streaming services will become number one within the next few years.
While the total amount of TV consumption has remained consistent in the past year, the amount that Americans have streamed has increased 22.6%, compared to declines in cable and broadcast of 8.9% and 9.8%, reports Axios.
Streaming services have popped up everywhere in recent years. With the influx of different viewing platforms, the services are now competing to make and obtain the best content to ensure that people spend as much of their TV time as possible on their platform.
Overall, many streaming platforms—including Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and Amazon’s Prime Video—attracted their highest respective shares of U.S. viewing time in July, topping records set in June, Nielsen reports.
