Streaming Tops Linear for First Time, Sports Still Key to TV’s Resilience

If there was still any doubt about the importance of streaming to the media business, new figures from Nielsen have put that finally and definitively to rest.

The media measurement agency said that streaming represented 44.8% of U.S. TV viewership in May, marking the first time it topped the combined share of broadcast and cable, coming in at 44.2% during the month. 

The accelerating migration to streaming first hit a major tipping point in July 2023, when the combined linear share from broadcast and cable fell below 50% of total consumption for the first time. Less than two years later, the transition has become even more stark. Since 2021, when Nielsen first introduced The Gauge to monitor macro-level viewership trends on a monthly basis, streaming usage has grown by 71% while broadcast TV and cable have fallen 21% and 39%, respectively, in that time.

“While many expected this milestone to occur sooner, sporting events, news, and new season [entertainment] content have kept broadcast and cable surprisingly resilient,” Nielsen SVP Brian Fuhrer said. “The trend [toward streaming], however, has been very consistent.”

Within that 44.8% streaming percentage during May, by far the largest chunk came from YouTube, followed by Netflix. Coming in third were Disney’s combined operations that include ESPN+ along with Hulu, which is set to be owned in full by the company, and Disney+. Amazon Prime Video was fourth. 

“An under-appreciated driver is the continued transformation of traditional media companies into streaming-first entities,” Fuhrer said. “Instead of competing and conflicting with their linear components, streaming platforms like Hulu, Paramount+, and Peacock have really come into their own as key connections to streaming-native consumers. This phenomenon is not limited to originals, as we’ve seen success with sporting events as well, most notably with the Super Bowl that Fox simulcast on Tubi.”

Roku, which increasingly sees itself as a key starting point for streamers and has resumed streaming of MLB games, itself captured 2.5% of the total television audience during May, greater than the individual shares for Paramount+, Max, or Peacock. 

The latest Nielsen data also arrives as the company intends to make its Big Data + Panel expanded methodology the standard currency for audience measurement.

The rest of TV viewership not covered by linear or streaming, amounting to nearly 11% in May, involved a series of other uses such as DVD playback, gaming, and audio streaming.