Streaming Jumps to 40% of All TV Usage in June, Setting a Nielsen Record

Streaming accounted for 40.3% of all TV usage in the U.S in June, per a monthly report from Nielsen. That marks not only the highest proportion of streaming viewership ever recorded in the three years Nielsen began tracking, but the best performance for any single category of viewership. Previously, the record belonged to cable, which reached 40.1% of TV usage in June 2021.

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Netflix, largely driven by “Bridgerton” in the month of June but with several other high-performing titles, was the most-watched traditional streaming service of the month with 8.4% of all viewership, but YouTube outranked it with 9.9%.

With less than one-third of Netflix’s viewership, Amazon Prime Video trailed with 3.1%, and Hulu was next with 3%. Disney+ and Tubi each made up 2% of viewership and were followed by the Roku channel (1.5%), Max (1.4%), Peacock (1.2%), Paramount+ (1.1%) and Pluto (0.8%). 6% of viewership fell into a miscellaneous streaming category. (Note: Nielsen measures viewership on U.S. television sets. Viewership in other countries and on other devices is not accounted for here.

Four apps double-digit viewership growth compared to May — Netflix (11.8%), Disney+ 14.8%), Tubi (14.7%) and Max (11%). Each of the four owes at least 20% of its total to younger viewers, which Nielsen defines as those age 2-17. The company also points out that the growth in streaming viewership overall, which is up 6% from May, is partially attributed to young people. Viewers age 2-11 in particular watched 16% more television than they did the previous month, likely due to the end of the school year and the beginning of summer vacation.

Behind “Bridgerton,” which was watched for 9.3 billion minutes in June, “Your Honor” was the second-most-streamed title. The Bryan Cranston-led legal drama aired on Showtime from 2020 to 2023 and has long been available to stream on Paramount+, but its addition to Netflix on June 1 drove it to a total of 7.5 billion minutes watched across both platforms.

Other big titles in June included “The Boys” with 4 billion minutes watched on Amazon Prime Video and “House of the Dragon” with 3.4 billion minutes watched on Max.

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It should be noted that some streaming titles split their impact across TV usage categories. For example, while most “House of the Dragon” viewership happens on Max, the series airs on HBO’s linear channel, contributing to the cable portion of Nielsen’s chart.

Cable was the biggest usage category behind streaming in June, Making up 27.2% of all viewership, cable viewing was largely boosted the presidential debate, which attracted 10 million viewers on CNN and 9.5 million on Fox news channel.

Broadcast followed cable, making up 20.5% of TV usage. ABC hosted the top seven telecasts of the month: five games in the NBA finals plus another debate simulcast and Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. NBC’s airing of the women’s gymnastics Olympic Trials was the No. 8 broadcast telecast of the month, with NBC sure to rise in the rankings in July and August due to the Olympic Games.

12% of TV usage fell into a miscellaneous other category.

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