Streaming tags new record high in Nielsen TV share measure
April brought another dip in overall television usage - and another record share of the usage went to streaming media.
Streaming usage climbed over a 30% share of TV time for the first time, to 30.4%, and it took share from all other areas: Cable share dipped to 36.8%; Broadcast TV usage fell to 24.7%; and "Other" (heavily videogaming) fell to 8.2%, according to "The Gauge" from Nielsen, its monthly macro look at TV delivery platforms.
Overall usage marked a seasonally appropriate dip of 2.1%. But streaming volume held steady, while broadcast volume declined by 3% (led by a 38.2% drop in sports viewing) and cable fell by 2.5% (amid a 16.9% decline in news viewing).
Among particular streaming-service components, Leader Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) stayed flat at a 6.6% share, making room for some rivals to move up: YouTube (NASDAQ:GOOG) (GOOGL) gained a tick to 6.1% share from a previous 6%; Hulu (NYSE:DIS) (CMCSA) was flat at 3.3%; Amazon Prime Video (AMZN) moved up to 2.5% share from 2.3%; Disney+ (DIS) shed a bit, to 1.7% from 1.8%; and HBO Max (NASDAQ:WBD) makes the chart on its own for the first time, with a 1% share of total TV use.
Beyond those leading services, the catch-all "Other streaming" group took 9.2% share. That category also includes small services such as Crackle (CSSE) as well as linear streamers like Spectrum (CHTR), DirecTV and Sling TV (DISH).
Turning to the weekly top 10 in streaming viewing time, a cable season premiere shaped the streaming charts: Better Call Saul opened its sixth and final season on AMC, but Netflix (NFLX) has its first five seasons - and rode some catch-up binging to the overall lead, with the 50 previous episodes garnering a total 821 million streaming minutes. That was better than recent leader Bridgerton (NFLX), with 734 million minutes in the most recent Nielsen weekly ratings (for April 18-24), or CoComelon (NFLX), with 730 million.
Netflix (NFLX) reasserted some dominance by taking nine of the top 10 overall streaming programs: No. 4 was Anatomy of a Scandal (NFLX), 690 million minutes; No. 5, The John Wayne Gacy Tapes (NFLX), 684 million; No. 6, Heartland (NFLX), 631 million; Disney+ (DIS) landed at No. 7 with Moon Knight, 630 million; No. 8, NCIS (NFLX), 617 million; No. 9, Criminal Minds (NFLX), 614 million; and No. 10, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On (NFLX), 482 million.
(A reminder that Nielsen streaming ratings incorporate viewing from five major streamers: Amazon Prime Video (AMZN), Apple TV+ (AAPL), Disney+ (DIS), Hulu (DIS) (CMCSA) and Netflix (NFLX).)
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).