Streaming holds on as top TV use, though December brings more gaming
Streaming media kept its grip as the top use of a television in December, though it stopped growing share for the first time in nearly a year, as the holiday month came with its usual share of extra videogaming.
The share of TV time devoted to streaming media ticked down to 38.1% from November's 38.2%, according to "The Gauge" from Nielsen, the ratings firm's monthly overall look at TV delivery platforms.
But time spent streaming actually ticked up 0.2% from November - a testament to just how many TVs are turned over to gaming during school vacations and with holiday game gifting.
The "Other" category (heavily videogaming, but also including such uses as viewing video discs) saw its share jump from 4.3% to 6.3% in December, and that came mainly at the expense of the other main uses of TV: Cable's share declined for the fourth straight month, to 30.9% from 31.8%, and Broadcast's share dipped for the second straight month, to 24.7% from 25.7%.
Unlike Streaming, though, Cable and Broadcast also saw less volume usage from November, dropping by 2.4% and 3.7% month-over-month, with a post-election drop-off particularly hitting Cable. Sports viewing slipped, while increased viewing of holiday movies mitigated some declines there.
As for the share of TV time taken by specific streamers, Peacock (CMCSA) became the latest to cross the 1% share threshold, and got its own table entry rather than being lumped in with "other streamers."
The leaders there continued to drip a bit of share, as the space continued to fragment with new offerings. YouTube/YouTube TV (NASDAQ:GOOG) (GOOGL) continued to hold top share, though it dipped back to 8.7% from November's 8.8%; Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell back to 7.5% share from 7.6%; and Hulu (DIS) (CMCSA) slipped to 3.4% from the prior month's 3.9%.
There were gains to be had. Amazon Prime Video (NASDAQ:AMZN) boosted its share to 2.7% from 2.6%; Disney+ (DIS) fell back to 1.9% from 2.0%; HBO Max (NASDAQ:WBD) jumped to 1.4% from 1.2%, and led usage gains among streamers (up 18.1% with some help from a second season of The White Lotus). Peacock (CMCSA) showed up at 1%, and Pluto TV (PARA) (PARAA) dipped to 0.8% from 0.9%.
"Other streaming" (including smaller services like Crackle (CSSE) as well as linear streamers like Spectrum (CHTR), DirecTV and Sling TV (DISH)) shed combined share, landing at 10.7% from November's 11.3%.
Turning to weekly streaming content ratings, Amazon Prime Video (AMZN) made its latest splash with original content, though even it was overshadowed by Netflix's latest big movie.
Netflix (NFLX) film Glass Onion was the top-viewed content in the latest weekly streaming ratings (for Dec. 19-25), hitting 2.225B minutes despite only running for three days of that measurement week.
Prime Video (AMZN) struck again with a third season of its Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan franchise, which was second with 1.834B minutes. Three other shows streamed a billion minutes for the week, all Netflix (NFLX) originals: previous No. 1 Wednesday, with 1.797B minutes; The Recruit, with 1.695B minutes; and Emily in Paris, with 1.389B minutes.
Rounding out the overall top 10: No. 6, CoComelon (NFLX), 991M minutes; No. 7, Home Alone (DIS), 926M minutes; No. 8, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (WBD), 864M minutes; No. 9, Elf (WBD), 836M minutes; and No. 10, NCIS (NFLX), 804M minutes.
(Nielsen streaming ratings now incorporate viewing from seven major streamers: Amazon Prime Video (AMZN), Apple TV+ (AAPL), Disney+ (DIS), HBO Max (WBD), Hulu (DIS) (CMCSA), Netflix (NFLX) and Peacock (CMCSA).)
Pay TV distributors: Comcast (CMCSA), Charter (CHTR), Dish Network (DISH), Verizon FiOS (VZ), Optimum/Suddenlink (ATUS), Atlantic Broadband (OTCPK:CGEAF), Sparklight (CABO).
Relevant local broadcast tickers: Nexstar Media Group (NXST), Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI), Gray Television (GTN), Tegna (TGNA), E.W. Scripps (SSP). National broadcasters: ABC (DIS), NBC (CMCSA), CBS (PARA) (PARAA), Fox (FOX) (FOXA). And some ad-tech names tied to connected TV: The Trade Desk (TTD), Magnite (MGNI), PubMatic (PUBM), Criteo (CRTO), Roku (ROKU).