Cable Is No Longer King

Americans spent more than 40% of their TV time in June on streaming services, a record high not just for streaming but for any single category of viewership, per Variety. Younger viewers now on summer holidays drove a 2.1% increase in overall TV consumption and 6% increase in streaming in June compared to May, as reported by Nielsen, which began releasing its monthly total TV and streaming snapshot in 2021. Cable TV held the previous single category record with 40.1% of TV usage, set in June 2021. It was overtaken by streaming's 40.3% in June.

YouTube took up 9.9% of all TV consumption and Fox Corp.'s Tubi consumed 2%, records for both services, per Axios. Netflix claimed 8.4% market share, "just shy of a record for the platform," per Deadline. It was trailed by Amazon Prime Video (3.1%), Hulu (3%), Disney+ (2%), Roku Channel (1.5%), Max (1.4%), Peacock (1.2%), Paramount+ (1.1%), and Pluto (0.8%), per Variety. Tubi "deserves the most spotlight," per Deadline, with usage growth of 14.7%, similar to the 14.8% for Disney+. Max saw 11% growth and Netflix 11.8%.

Netflix's growth was largely due to the new season of Bridgerton, which generated 9.3 billion viewing minutes. Showtime's Your Honor generated 7.5 billion viewing minutes across Netflix and Paramount+. The Boys totaled 4 billion minutes on Prime Video, while House of the Dragon generated 3.4 billion minutes on Max. Consumption of cable TV (27.2% of overall TV viewing) and broadcast (20.5%) both declined in June compared to May despite boosts in news consumption. This is common in the summer months, though the upcoming Olympics may see Americans return to traditional TV. (More streaming video stories.)