Nielsen: in July, linear TV made up less than 50% of all US TV usage, a first in over two years of tracking, and streaming hit a record 38.7% high of TV usage
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter :
Context & Ripple Effects
Nielsen’s July reading extends a clear viewing-share shift: streaming had already become the largest individual category of US TV viewing in July 2022, after accounting for a much smaller share of TV watching in 2020.
The new threshold matters because it puts combined linear viewing below half of TV use while streaming reaches its highest measured share, making the balance between legacy TV distribution and digital viewing materially more uneven.
First-order effects
- Linear TV’s share falls below half of US TV usage, weakening its position as the default destination for television viewing.
- Streaming services collectively gain a record 38.7% share, reinforcing their central role in where US audiences spend TV time.
Second-order effects
- Advertisers, programmers and distributors face greater pressure to plan, price and measure audiences across streaming and linear channels rather than treating linear TV as the primary reach vehicle.
- The shift raises the value of comparable cross-platform measurement: Nielsen’s category-level benchmarks become more consequential as viewing fragments among services.
Third-order effects
- If sustained, the pattern points to TV economics being organized around streaming-first audience aggregation, with linear networks increasingly competing for specific live or habitual viewing rather than broad default reach.
- The transition is not synonymous with any one streaming winner: as the 2022 data showed Netflix and YouTube led distinct shares of TV viewing, competition may remain dispersed even as streaming grows overall.
The trend: US television consumption is moving from a linear-led distribution model toward a fragmented, streaming-led viewing market.