The shift to streaming passed a new milestone in June, when time spent streaming hit 40.3% of all TV viewing, a record according to Nielsen’s The Gauge. In sharp contrast to streaming, which gained 1.5 share points compared to May, broadcast slipped to a 20.5% share and cable fell to a 27.2% share of total TV viewing.
It’s typical for traditional linear TV to exhibit a lull in viewership during the summer months, and both broadcast and cable recorded fairly sharp declines in their share of TV usage in June, Nielsen reported. The broadcast category lost 1.8 share points and cable fell by 1.0 share points, bringing the two to a combined 47.7% of overall TV this month.
The wildcard for traditional TV as networks move into July and August will be the Summer Olympics, whose widely covered quadrennial events have historically drawn sizable audiences across both broadcast and cable networks, the researchers noted.
Across streaming platforms, four notched double-digit usage growth including Disney+ (+14.8%), Tubi (+14.7%), Netflix (+11.8%) and Max (+11.0%), all with 20% or more attributable to younger viewers. Additionally, most streaming services exhibited shares that were near or equal to previous platform-bests, while YouTube and Tubi both set high watermarks with 9.9% and 2.0% of TV, respectively, Nielsen reported.
Nielsen’s analysts also noted that June marks the end of the school year and beginning of summer break for most kids and teens. The additional free time led viewers 17 and younger to exhibit the largest upticks in TV usage across age demographics. Younger audiences also helped drive a slight monthly increase in overall TV usage in June (+2.1%), which was also fairly flat compared with June 2023 (+1.3%).
Streaming viewership increased 6% compared with May and the category added 1.5 share points to finish June at a record-setting 40.3% of TV. As streaming makes up a larger share of younger viewers’ television time, the category received a disproportionate bump from the 2-17 age demographic, including a 16% increase in viewing from kids 2-11.
Netflix added almost a full share point in June (+0.8 pts.) and jumped to 8.4% of total TV, just a tenth of a share point below its platform best 8.5% which it set in July 2023. Netflix capitalized on considerable viewership from this month’s top two streaming titles: Its original series Bridgerton led the way with 9.3 billion viewing minutes, and Your Honor, Bryan Cranston’s Showtime and Paramount+ import, had the second highest total with 7.5 billion minutes across Netflix and Paramount+. High-profile content from other platforms also garnered notable viewership in June, including Prime Video’s original series The Boys whose new season helped drive 4 billion viewing minutes, and House of the Dragon, the HBO network series on Max, which totaled 3.4 billion minutes on the streamer.
Broadcast claimed 20.5% of total TV time in June, seeing some benefit from viewing increases of 26% in sports and 5% in news. This comes as a result of the top seven most watched broadcast telecasts this month—all of which aired on ABC—including the NBA Finals covering the top five, followed by ABC’s simulcast of CNN’s Presidential Debate, and Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. NBC’s Sunday night broadcast of the women’s gymnastics Olympic Trials settled into the 8th slot among top telecasts with 7.4 million viewers, foreshadowing one of the summer’s biggest TV events.
The cable category, which totaled 27.2% of TV usage in June, also saw big viewership numbers from the CNN Presidential Debate. The simulcasted debate claimed the top two cable telecasts of the month, with CNN leading the pack with over 10 million viewers, followed by Fox News Channel with 9.5 million. Cable’s ‘general drama’ and ‘feature film’ genres were each up about 6% from last month, but viewing in the cable sports genre declined 35% as both the NBA and NHL concluded their seasons with broadcast televised events.
The measurement interval for June 2024 was 05/27/2024 through 06/30/2024.
A chart showing shares for broadcast versus streaming and cable over time is available here.
