Americans watched more TV from streaming services than broadcast or cable TV in July, surpassing for the first-time cable networks among U.S. viewers.
According to a Nielsen report, streaming claimed the largest share of TV viewing for the month among American households representing a record 34.8% share. Cable and broadcast came in at 34.4% and 21.6%, respectively.
Among streaming services Netflix took the lead with 8% of total viewership with YouTube in second at 7.3%. Hulu took the third position with 3.6%, followed by Amazon’s Prime Video in fourth at 3%.
Netflix held the largest share boosted by nearly 18 billion viewing minutes of Stranger Things 4 in July. An additional 11 billion minutes came from the series Virgin River and The Umbrella Academy.
Overall, streaming usage in July increased 3.2% compared with June and gained 1.1 share points, cable viewing declined 2% and dropped -0.7 share points while broadcast TV viewing, that relies on new content scheduled for September, was down -3.7%, or -0.8 share points.
Results are bad news for broadcasters and cable TV companies after millions of Americans across the country are still cancelling cable services.
