According to a recent report from market research firm Nielsen, streaming has overtaken cable TV as the preferred method of content consumption for the first time as TV viewers watched more on services like Netflix and Disney+ than they did on cable.
A report by Ars Technica said that analysts and observers have long expected the transition, but it has just recently transpired. The outlet added that although cable continued to outperform over-the-air broadcast TV until July, streaming had previously surpassed it.
According to the report (via The Verge), cable accounted for 34.4% of people's viewing time, compared to 34.8% from services like Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu. Meanwhile, 21.6% of the total was via broadcast TV.
Audiences streamed content for 190.9 billion minutes per week on average, a 22.6% increase from July 2021. This is significantly more than the previously reported streaming figure of 169.9 billion minutes in April 2020, according to Nielsen.
What Contributes to the Increase of Streaming Views
According to Neilson, one of the main reasons for the decline in cable viewers was that there weren't as many sports programs available at this time of year.
However, The Verge noted that might not be the case when sports like basketball and football start their new seasons.
On the other hand, the rights to broadcast games have also been slowly acquired by streaming services. Baseball and football are currently being streamed on Apple and Amazon, respectively, while Disney has been contemplating the possibility of streaming ESPN.
The news outlet, however, noted that choosing how to watch different games still presents a costly and perplexing challenge to casual sports fans.
Additionally, there is a lot more streaming content available now than there used to be because of recent releases of new services like Peacock and Paramount+.
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Media Viewership
According to Nielsen's statistics, July was one of the best months ever for the amount of time individuals spent watching streaming services, as per the news story by Ars Technica.
Only the proportional size of each pie slice has changed, said the market research firm, regarding overall TV viewership. In other words, although people are viewing more TV, they are doing so in other ways.
The research also analyzed the relative performance of various well-known streaming services. Netflix was the top individual provider with 8% of the streaming market share, while the largest category was the all-encompassing "other streaming" category.
Following it in terms of percentage were YouTube (7.3%), Hulu (3.6%), Amazon Prime Video (3%) Disney+ (1.8%), and HBO Max (1%).
Last but not least, as noted by Ars Technica report, it's important to note that Nielsen collects data from viewing on actual TVs. Meaning, this data excludes viewing on mobile or desktop, which would probably increase streaming even more.
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