Nielsen: in July, for the first time, streaming had the largest share of US TV viewing at 34.8%; Netflix had an 8% share, followed by YouTube with 7.3%
Americans now watch more stuff on TV from streaming services than either broadcast or cable TV. — Streaming platforms, led by Netflix …
Context & Ripple Effects
Nielsen’s earlier measurement showed streaming at 19% of US TV watching in 2020, with Netflix and YouTube already the two largest services within that segment. The July result marks the point at which that streaming viewing base became larger than either legacy TV category.
The significance is not only streaming’s aggregate lead: Netflix and YouTube account for the two largest individual platform shares in Nielsen’s July breakdown, making platform competition a more prominent part of TV-viewing measurement.
First-order effects
- Netflix and YouTube lead the streaming services measured by Nielsen in July, with 8.0% and 7.3% of all US TV viewing respectively.
- Cable and broadcast are no longer the largest individual viewing category in Nielsen’s July comparison, as streaming takes the top share.
Second-order effects
- Netflix and YouTube are more directly compared on their share of total TV viewing, rather than solely on their position within streaming.
- The category crossover raises the importance of Nielsen’s platform-level measurement for distinguishing which services are driving streaming’s lead over cable and broadcast.
Third-order effects
- Subsequent Nielsen tracking of linear TV falling below half of total TV use indicates that July’s category crossover was part of a broader reweighting of TV viewing toward streaming.
- The later report that streaming exceeded cable and broadcast combined over a full month extends the shift from category leadership to aggregate dominance, reinforcing a TV market increasingly organized around individual streaming platforms.
The trend: US TV viewing is shifting from a cable-and-broadcast-centered market to one where streaming platforms, led in Nielsen’s measurement by Netflix and YouTube, define the competitive hierarchy.