Noting that if anyone had any doubts that streaming has forever changed TV viewing trends from the month will have put them to rest, research from Nielsen has released data showing that in June 2022 the US streaming industry gained its largest-ever share of viewing.
Not only did four platforms attract record viewership shares in the study, but also the streaming category in aggregate claimed more than a third of total TV time and subscription video-on-demand leader Netflix saw its largest monthly growth.
Even though TV viewing is seasonally lower in the summer months, the Nielsen Gauge study found that total TV usage increased by 1.9% on a month-on-month basis, bolstered by a 7.7% increase in streaming, which raised its audience share 1.8 points to a new high of 33.7%—6.3 percentage points higher than in June 2021.
Across streaming platforms, not only Netflix gained audience share, so did Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube, posting viewing records. Disney+ saw a 14.7% increase in minutes viewed and 0.2 share points gained; Amazon Prime Video had an 11.1% increase in minutes viewed along with 0.2 share points gained; YouTube (including YouTube TV) garnered a 5.2% increase in minutes viewed,0.2 share points gained; Netflix was up 16.3% in terms of minutes viewed and 1 share point gained.
By contrast, the official end of the TV season and a lack of new content resulted in a 6.7% decline in broadcast viewership and a loss of 2.1 share points between May and June 2022. The end of the traditional TV season affected drama the most, as viewing for this category fell 31% in June. Sports was a bright spot for broadcast, though, as the NHL and NBA finals took place in June, driving a 43.8% spike in viewing.
The Gauge report for June 2022 also showed that with the NBA playoffs concluding on cable in May sports viewing on cable fell 42.1%—too large a drop to be offset by the feature film category, which noted Nielsen is always a notable contributor for cable. In June, feature film viewing was up 15.8% from May, representing 13.7% of total cable viewing minutes. On a year-on-year basis, cable viewing minutes fell 11.9%, resulting in a drop of 5 full share points.
Even though TV viewing is seasonally lower in the summer months, the Nielsen Gauge study found that total TV usage increased by 1.9% on a month-on-month basis, bolstered by a 7.7% increase in streaming, which raised its audience share 1.8 points to a new high of 33.7%—6.3 percentage points higher than in June 2021.
Across streaming platforms, not only Netflix gained audience share, so did Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube, posting viewing records. Disney+ saw a 14.7% increase in minutes viewed and 0.2 share points gained; Amazon Prime Video had an 11.1% increase in minutes viewed along with 0.2 share points gained; YouTube (including YouTube TV) garnered a 5.2% increase in minutes viewed,0.2 share points gained; Netflix was up 16.3% in terms of minutes viewed and 1 share point gained.
By contrast, the official end of the TV season and a lack of new content resulted in a 6.7% decline in broadcast viewership and a loss of 2.1 share points between May and June 2022. The end of the traditional TV season affected drama the most, as viewing for this category fell 31% in June. Sports was a bright spot for broadcast, though, as the NHL and NBA finals took place in June, driving a 43.8% spike in viewing.
The Gauge report for June 2022 also showed that with the NBA playoffs concluding on cable in May sports viewing on cable fell 42.1%—too large a drop to be offset by the feature film category, which noted Nielsen is always a notable contributor for cable. In June, feature film viewing was up 15.8% from May, representing 13.7% of total cable viewing minutes. On a year-on-year basis, cable viewing minutes fell 11.9%, resulting in a drop of 5 full share points.
