U.S Streaming viewership surpasses cable TV for first time; Netflix, Prime Video reach new heights

Streaming viewership has exceeded cable usage for the first time in the US, amid the slowdown of new content on traditional television and reduced sports programming, a new report has shown.

According to Nielsen, streaming represented a 34.8 per cent share of total TV viewing in the US in July -- an increase of 22.6 per cent compared to July 2021.

Cable consumption was a little behind at 34.4 per cent, an 8.9 per cent drop from the year prior and a 2 per cent decline compared to June.

"Streaming claimed the largest share of TV viewing in July -- a first after four consecutive months of hitting new viewership highs. Streaming viewership in a given month has exceeded broadcast viewing before, but this is the first time it has also surpassed cable viewing," the data measurement firm said in a statement late on Thursday.

Overall, streaming usage grew 3.2 per cent from June. In July, Prime Video, Hulu, Netflix and YouTube reached new heights again.

Netflix gained 8 per cent per cent share, boosted by the nearly 18 billion minutes of 'Stranger Things' that viewers watched, complemented by the nearly 11 billion minutes of combined viewing of 'Virgin River' and 'The Umbrella Academy'.

Movies 'The Gray Man' and 'The Sea Beast' contributed over 5 billion minutes.

Amazon's Prime Video's 3 per cent share was driven by the new series 'The Terminal List' and new episodes of 'The Boys', which netted over 8 billion viewing minutes.

"In addition to claiming the largest viewership share during the month, audiences watched an average of 190.9 billion minutes of streamed content per week -- easily surpassing the 169.9 billion minutes that audiences watched during the pandemic lockdown period back in April 2020," the report mentioned.