Cable and broadcast TV are becoming increasingly obsolete, new data from Nielsen’s latest The Gauge report shows. According to The Gauge’s May edition, streaming dominated 44.8% of viewing time in the US, narrowly beating the combined tally of 44.2% for broadcast (20.1%) and cable (24.1%).
The remaining 11% was made up of gaming, physical media, and on-demand viewing. Together, YouTube and Netflix accounted for 20% of all TV use.
Comparatively, in the first-ever Gauge report, which was released exactly four years ago, streaming only accounted for 26% of all TV use. Cable was at 39% and broadcast was at 25%. This means that in the past four years, streaming’s share of TV use has increased by 71%. Cable has fallen by 39%, and broadcast by 21%.
YouTube has also continued to be the most-used streaming platform, with 12.5% of watchers using the app on their TV.
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao said: “It’s fitting that this inflection point coincides with the four-year anniversary of Nielsen’s The Gauge, which has become the gold standard for streaming TV measurement. It’s also a credit to media companies, who have deftly adapted their programming strategies to meet their viewers where they are watching TV, whether it’s on streaming or linear platforms.”
Clearly, as this data shows, we’re in for a new era of television — and it looks like creators might play a big part in that.
