Streaming has made considerable gains through 2022 but the month of October witnessed new broadcast programming having a significant impact on TV viewing, up 2.2% in overall usage compared with September says the latest version of the Nielsen Gauge.
The Gauge provides a monthly macroanalysis of how consumers are accessing content across key television delivery platforms, including broadcast, streaming, cable and other sources. It also includes a breakdown of the major, individual streaming distributors.
The latest edition found that following the September arrival of a new football season, the influx of new fall programming across broadcast channels in October resulted in a 9.8% jump in viewing, boosting broadcast’s share of total TV usage to 26%, up from 24.2% in September). Sports continued to attract big audiences with a 19% gain in viewing volume, but the general drama category leapfrogged sports with a 42% rise in viewing volume to account for 26.7% of broadcast viewing.
Yet despite the month-on-month gains, broadcast usage during the month was down 6.2% from a year ago and was not enough to alter the continued momentum of streaming. Having maintained more than a third of total TV usage since June 2022, streaming usage continued to grow in October, but at a much slower pace, namely 3.3% in usage and a 0.4 share point.
After what Nielsen called busy summer of new content across streaming services, viewership share remained largely consistent in October, but there were a few notable upticks in usage from September: Disney+ usage increased 6.8%; Hulu usage increased 5%; YouTube usage increased 8.3%.
The continued introduction of new content across platforms speaks to how different services are succeeding simultaneously. Specifically, the top five programmes in October per minutes viewed were Dahmer, The Watcher, Hocus Pocus 2, House of The Dragon and Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. These originated on Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video. Nielsen noted that engagement with such programming was a key reason for streaming usage rising 35.1% compared with October 2021.
Viewing of linear television MVPD (multichannel video programming distributors) and vMVPDs (virtual multichannel video programming distributors) apps represented 5.7% of total television usage and 15.4% of streaming usage in October. Broadcast and cable content viewed through linear streaming apps also credits its respective category.
The Nielsen Gauge for October 2022Nielsen Gauge for October 2022 also showed that compared with broadcast and streaming, cable viewing was fairly flat in October, with usage down 0.7% from September.
The latest edition found that following the September arrival of a new football season, the influx of new fall programming across broadcast channels in October resulted in a 9.8% jump in viewing, boosting broadcast’s share of total TV usage to 26%, up from 24.2% in September). Sports continued to attract big audiences with a 19% gain in viewing volume, but the general drama category leapfrogged sports with a 42% rise in viewing volume to account for 26.7% of broadcast viewing.
Yet despite the month-on-month gains, broadcast usage during the month was down 6.2% from a year ago and was not enough to alter the continued momentum of streaming. Having maintained more than a third of total TV usage since June 2022, streaming usage continued to grow in October, but at a much slower pace, namely 3.3% in usage and a 0.4 share point.
After what Nielsen called busy summer of new content across streaming services, viewership share remained largely consistent in October, but there were a few notable upticks in usage from September: Disney+ usage increased 6.8%; Hulu usage increased 5%; YouTube usage increased 8.3%.
The continued introduction of new content across platforms speaks to how different services are succeeding simultaneously. Specifically, the top five programmes in October per minutes viewed were Dahmer, The Watcher, Hocus Pocus 2, House of The Dragon and Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. These originated on Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video. Nielsen noted that engagement with such programming was a key reason for streaming usage rising 35.1% compared with October 2021.
Viewing of linear television MVPD (multichannel video programming distributors) and vMVPDs (virtual multichannel video programming distributors) apps represented 5.7% of total television usage and 15.4% of streaming usage in October. Broadcast and cable content viewed through linear streaming apps also credits its respective category.
The Nielsen Gauge for October 2022Nielsen Gauge for October 2022 also showed that compared with broadcast and streaming, cable viewing was fairly flat in October, with usage down 0.7% from September.
