Thereโs more than enough discussion across the media industry about the massive growth of streaming, but the ongoing fanfare fails to objectively quantify what is truly happening and the full impact that over-the-top content is having on total TV usage. To remedy that, Nielsen publishes The Gauge, its monthly snapshot of total TV and streaming usage, which equalizes measurement of the time audiences spend with their TV sets. After doing this for one year, the effect of streaming consumption is very clear, especially when we consider that the amount of time spent watching TV hasnโt changed.
Compared with mid-2020, when connected TV usage skyrocketed as people stayed home amid COVID-driven shelter-in-place restrictions, total TV usage has returned to seasonal norms, but streaming has taken a much bigger seat at the table. Between May 2021 and May 2022, streaming usage increased more than 21%. That growth allowed streaming to capture an additional 5.6 share points: streaming accounted for nearly 32% of total TV time in May 2022, up from 26% one year ago.
Peningkatan waktu yang dihabiskan untuk streaming mengorbankan opsi lain, sebagian besar adalah kabel. Secara tahun ke tahun, menonton TV kabel turun 7,1%, mengurangi pangsa waktu menonton TV sebesar 2,8 poin pangsa pada Mei 2022 dibandingkan satu tahun lalu. Secara komparatif, penayangan siaran tetap relatif stabil, hanya kehilangan 0,8 poin pangsa yang dapat diabaikan dalam waktu TV selama setahun terakhir karena penurunan 3,3% dalam penayangan.
Beneath the surface of aggregate share change by channel, we can see the impact of streaming in greater detail. We can also see that streaming platforms have taken advantage of the seasonal lull in summertime viewing by introducing new titles when there is less competition for audience attention. For example, the release of season 4 of Stranger Things racked up more than 5 billion viewing minutes during its opening weekend in the last week of May.
Secara total, masing-masing dari enam platform streaming yang diuraikan dalam The Gauge berdasarkan namanya (misalnya, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+) mengalami peningkatan penggunaan sebesar dua digit antara Mei 2021 dan Mei 2022.
Hal lain yang bisa diambil:
- Disney+ meningkatkan penggunaannya sebesar 39%, membantu platform ini mendapatkan pangsa dari total waktu TV sebesar 0,5 poin pangsa sepanjang tahun.
- YouTube, which includes YouTube TV, has seen the greatest increase in share, growing by a full point to take second place overall.
- Netflix mengalami peningkatan volume sebesar 12,7%, yang mendorong lonjakan pangsa sebesar 0,8% menjadi 6,8% dari total waktu menonton TV. Netflix juga mempertahankan gelarnya sebagai layanan streaming yang paling banyak digunakan.
- Peningkatan penggunaan sebesar 20,8% pada Amazon membantunya mendapatkan setengah poin pangsa, mendorongnya menjadi 2,6% dari total waktu TV.
In addition, the โother streamingโ category, which includes the platforms that have not yet reached the 1% of share threshold to be broken out individually, has grown its share from 8% to 10.5% when we include HBO Max for consistency, and is up 32.4% on an impressions basis over the past year. Much of the growth in this category stems from the proliferation of new services that have come online over the past two years, introducing vast choice that some estimate to exceed 200 services in the U.S. alone. Other big gainers in the โother streamingโ category include TubiTV (75% increase in usage) and Peacock (71% increase in usage).
Amid the array of media choice, the past year serves as further evidence that streaming is the future of TV, and audience-first mindsets will be best positioned to engage viewers as connected TV usage grows toward ubiquity. Given the shifts weโve seen over the past year, it seems likely that this summer may be remembered in the media industry as the summer of streamingโeven more so than the pandemic lockdown period.
