Streaming Services Beat Cable and Broadcast In Monthly Views for the First Time

People spent more time watching streaming services than cable or broadcast last month. According to audience measurement firm Nielsen; that has never happened until now.

The new trend marks the first time online streaming accounted for the most significant portion of people’s viewing time. Here are a few key details from the July 2022 Nielsen report:

• YouTube, Hulu, Netflix: 34.8%
• Cable: 34.4%
• Broadcast: TV 21.6%
• Other: 9.2%

Traditional services consist of cable and broadcast TV, which still beats streaming platforms. However, the latter dominates a larger piece of the pie.

The leading streaming services drew more viewers than cable TV for the first time in July. https://t.co/YRm3SzZoFr

— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 18, 2022

Nielsen noted that fewer people watched cable because only a few sports events were airing at the time. In late 2022, sporting events will start new seasons.

Yet, streaming platforms have been slowly acquiring rights to feature these games. For instance, Amazon and Apple are now streaming football and baseball. 

Disney has been planning to stream ESPN. Sadly, the trend will make it confusing for sports fans to watch their favorite games. They might have to subscribe to different platforms for each event. 

As a result, they would probably spend more money on following these events. Moreover, Nielsen noted that July 2022 was a unique month. 

It was one of the best months for the number of time people spent watching streaming apps that the firm has ever measured. Also, the milestone comes at a moment when various streaming platforms have been undergoing significant changes.

For example, Netflix wants to have an ad-supported tier. It would be cheaper than the existing plans, but it would have advertisements. The famous streaming service will also limit password sharing.

Most users choose these streaming platforms because they do not have ads. Still, new users may pick the ad-supported tiers as the apps have been hiking rates lately.

We now have more streaming alternatives nowadays. According to Nielsen, Netflix remains the largest streaming service in the industry. 

However, it lost 8% of its market share to other platforms under the “other” category, such as Hulu, Prime Video, Disney Plus, HBO Max, and YouTube. As a result, streaming services are starting to resemble cable packages that offer hundreds of channels.