The streaming video industry is booming, and new numbers revealed in April’s Nielsen monthly TV usage report make that clear.
The Nielsen Gauge report for April 2022, published Thursday, revealed that audiences spent on average more than 30% of their total TV viewing time this past month consuming watching streaming video content. That is a record share for streaming, and up from the previous record of 29.7% that was set in March. Overall TV viewing dropped by 2.1% from March, while consumption of streaming content in April was almost identical to March, helping to increase streaming’s share of overall TV viewing by over 0.6%.
Of the major streaming platforms, Netflix grabbed 6.6% of streaming viewers, followed by YouTube with 6.1% and Hulu with 3.3%. Prime Video had a 2% share of streaming and Disney+ 1.7%. HBO Max claimed a 1% share for the first time, and 9.2% share went to other streaming platforms.
Broadcast viewing went down 3% in April, due to a nearly 15% decrease in dramatic content due to shows airing their season finales.
Although cable viewing was down 2.5%, sports viewing on cable increased by 17% from March, due primarily to the NBA playoffs and the NCAA Final Four. Cable news viewing was down by 16.9%.
