Time spent streaming hits record high, says Nielsen

Time spent streaming reached 40.3% of total TV usage in June, the largest share of time spent on TV ever, according to the latest installment of “The Gauge,” Nielsen’s monthly summary of total broadcast, cable and streaming usage that occurs via a TV screen.

This is a milestone, a new record since Nielsen introduced The Gauge in May 2021.

This is a slightly higher result than in June 2021, when it amounted to 40.1% of television viewership.

In particular, four streaming platforms saw double-digit growth in popularity in June, with more than 20% or more of that growth coming from viewers aged 2 to 17.

• Disney+ (+14.8%)
• Tubi (+14.7%)
• Netflix (+11.8%)
• Maximum (+11.0%)

Netflix gained the largest share of TV viewership (+0.8 points) and achieved 8.4% of TV viewership, Nielsen added.

Next up is YouTube, which came in at 9.9% of TV, while Tubi came in at 2.0% of TV. Both are high watermarks for platforms.

In terms of overall TV usage, time spent watching TV saw its first monthly increase since January 2024, up 2.1% from May. Year-over-year, time spent watching TV increased 1.3%. And as a sign that school is out for the summer, younger viewers (2-17) showed the biggest increases in usage compared to all other age demographics.

While the streaming story is strong, how did TV channels fare in the sixth month of 2024?

In June, broadcast channels had a 20.5% share in television viewing, while cable channels had a 27.2% share.

What does it mean?

The broadcasting category lost 1.8 points of share compared to May, while the cable category lost 1.0 points, leaving the two categories with a combined 47.7% share of the total number of TV channels for the month.

The seven most watched TV shows this month, all broadcast on ABC—on NBA Finals featuring the First Five, followed by CNN’s broadcast of the presidential debate on ABC and Game 7 of the NHL’s Stanley Cup Finals.

NBCSunday night’s broadcast of the women’s gymnastics Olympic qualifying tournament was the eighth most watched telecast on television, with 7.4 million viewers, shaping up to be one of the biggest television events of the summer.

CNN also recorded high viewership during the presidential debate: the debate, broadcast simultaneously, was among the top two most popular cable programs this month, with CNN at the top of the ranking with over 10 million viewers, followed by Fox News Channel from 9.5 million.

“A key event for traditional television in July and August will be the Summer Olympics, whose widely covered, quadrennial event has historically attracted significant audiences across both broadcast and cable networks,” Nielsen said.