Last month, I was away on vacation and my e-mail began filling up with people asking me to comment on Nielsen’s reporting that US households now spent more time with streaming services than they did with broadcast and cable TV combined.
No one should really be surprised by this news, but it does represent a watershed moment for both streaming and the TV industry.
Back in May 2021, the Nielsen company released their initial report of The Gauge. Since that time, in four years, streaming became the largest viewing format and sported an increase in usage of 71%. When Nielsen began The Gauge, streaming measurement was limited to Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Disney+ and You Tube. As we type, some 11 streaming platforms were incorporated into the May 2025 data.
You may hear some media wonks use the term SVOD. It stands for Subscription Video on Demand (streaming). Netflix began streaming way back in 2007. Two financial giants involved are Amazon (Amazon Prime Video) and Apple. They can play the long game in streaming as they have arguably the deepest pockets in measured business history. I expect both to get bigger in to sports as they can outbid potential rivals without taking undue corporate risk. It is certain that both watched the delivery of the NFL games streamed on Netlfix on Christmas Day last year which broke a record for live streamed audience.
A lot has happened since The Gauge kicked off four years ago. Then, broadcast and cable combined had two thirds of all TV time and streaming was 26%. Now that has flipped and some 78% of US households have at least one streaming service. This compares to cable peaking a few decades ago at around 72%.
How has streaming done it? Many people like the option of viewing commercial free. Others like the quality of the programming with many niche players such as Acorn and Britbox from the United Kingdom picking up a loyal following.
A big sleeper in streaming growth has been older Americans. As many cable channels began to rely on reruns of old series, older Americans have been embracing streaming. One reason is their children and grandchildren. While this is admittedly anecdotal, several people over 65 have told me that their children or grandchildren have set them up on a streaming platform or two. After a couple of months of subscribing and then binge watching the new fare, their young family members have taught them how to cancel and move on to other services. Several months later, they go back to an original service or two. One elderly lady told me that she cancelled cable at over $120 per month and now spends under $30 per month for streaming services and her enjoyment of her viewing options has soared.
A forgotten player in all this is YouTube. Nielsen projects that 12.5% of TV time in May was on You Tube. Google has yet to monetize it fully, but that day may come. As an old movie buff, I sometimes find films on You Tube that are not available on any of my streaming services. Some have commercials, some do not.
Here are the Nielsen leaders in terms of share of TV Time in May 2025:
You Tube 12.5%
Netflix 7.5
Disney 5.0
Amazon Prime. 3.5
Roku Channel 2.5
Paramount 2.2
So, our world is changing. It will be fun to revisit this issue in a few years and see how the viewing merry go round has developed.
To all of my American readers who now make up 42% of the Media Realism (MR) audience, I wish you a Happy 4th of July.
If you would like to contact Don Cole directly, you may reach him at doncolemedia@gmail.com or leave a message on the blog.
