Streaming had another banner month in July, hitting multiple new milestones in the latest issue of The Gauge According to Nielsen, streaming was responsible for 41.4 percent of all TV viewing during the month. This is the highest share in the report’s brief history for any viewing category, meaning that streaming outperformed previous results for both broadcast and cable TV. The result follows on the heels of the previous record set by streaming.
The other big hit in the July report is YouTube. The popular video platform accounted for 10 percent of monthly TV usage, marking the first time a single streaming service has reached double-digit share. Other streaming sites hit their own personal record highs for viewer share in July: Disney+ rose to a 2.1 percent viewer share and The Roku Channel reached 1.6 percent.
There are a couple of takeaways from July’s record-breaking set of results. For starters, The Gauge only tracks viewing that occurs on a TV screen, meaning viewing from a mobile or laptop device is not included. Last month’s results show just how far streaming video’s presence has expanded beyond smartphones and tablets to challenge and surpass traditional broadcast and cable TV options.
Another notable data from Nielsen is that 10 different titles on streaming platforms surpassed viewing in the first full week of July, another record. Seven different streaming companies had shows on that list, and they cover a broad spectrum of genres and audiences. The list was topped by Netflix's action film Beverly Hills Police: Axel F.which garnered 2.05 billion minutes of viewership between July 1 and 7. Television series Suits (available on Peacock and Netflix) came in second with just under 1.5 billion minutes watched. House of the Dragon In Max, Your Honor on Netflix/Paramount+ and The bear Rounding out the top five were Hulu shows, each with more than 1.2 billion minutes watched during that week. In other words, the next big streaming hit could happen on any platform.
