YouTube Becomes First Streaming Platform to Crack 10% of Total Viewing in Nielsen’s Gauge Report

YouTube has made history as the first individual streaming platform tracked by Nielsen’s Gauge report to crack a double-digit viewership share, reporting 10.4% for the month of July.

The milestone marks a 7% increase versus the previous month and comes after it hit 9.9% of TV viewing in June and secured the second largest share of TV viewing among all media distributors. 

Overall, the streaming category accounted for a record 41.4% of TV viewing in July, shattering its previous record set last month. TV usage for the month grew 2.3% month over month and 3.5% year over year, in part due to the beginning of the Olympics in Paris.

July was a notable month for streaming with 10 titles exceeding 1 billion viewing minutes for the first time ever. The month now holds four of the top 10 most streamed days on record.

The Olympics vaulted Peacock to a 1.5% share of TV, the platform’s second best-ever. The streamer’s boost in viewing, which marked a 33% monthly usage increase and the largest for any platform in the Gauge, was also driven by “Love Island USA.”

Other streamers who posted double-digit monthly increases were Amazon’s Prime Video, which climbed 12% from June to notch a 3.4% share of TV and its best since November 2023, and The Roku Channel, which grew 10% to achieve a platform best of 1.6% of TV viewing.

House of the Dragon” led the pack with 4.7 billion viewing minutes, helping to drive a more than 4% increase for Max to a 1.4% share for the month. It was followed by “Bluey” on Disney+ with 4.3 billion viewing minutes in July, which boosted the service by 9.2% to finish with a 2.1% share, and Prime Video’s “The Boys” with 4.2 billion viewing minutes.  

Broadcast viewing accounted for 20.3% of TV viewing, a slight month-over-month increase but up 5% year over year. The category finished 0.3 points higher than when it recorded its lowest share ever – 20% – in July 2023.

When TV usage is isolated by week, the start of Olympics coverage in the final week of July pushed the broadcast average up to over 22% of total TV. The Olympics accounted for the top five, and seven of the top 10, broadcast telecasts in the July report, with the largest audience averaging 19 million viewers on NBC on Sunday, July 28. 

Meanwhile, cable viewing in July was even compared to June, but due to the larger increase of overall TV usage, the category lost half a share point and ended the month with 26.7% of TV viewing.

Cable news viewing saw a strong increase in July, driven by the Republican National Convention and coverage of the assassination attempt on former President Trump. The news genre was up 23% compared to June, and up 52% compared to July 2023. Fox News Channel owned 24 of the month’s top 25 cable telecasts.

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