Streaming TV has reached a record high in the United States in July, accounting for 38.7% of total TV usage.
According to The Gauge, the monthly snapshot of total broadcast, cable and streaming consumption over television, while linear TV viewership fell below 50% for the first time.
Broadcast and cable each represented record low shares at 20.0% and 29.6% of total TV usage, respectively, to combine for a linear television total of 49.6%.
Time spent streaming (via a television) increased 2.9% in July compared with June, and the category gained a full share point to finish at 38.7% of total TV usage—topping its previous record-high share, which it recorded just last month. On a yearly basis, streaming viewership has grown 25.3%, and the category has gained 7.3 share points.
It’s a sign of the continued trend of cutting the cord, though the original steamers that begun the trend, YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, have now been joined by new entrants controlled by the existing Big Three networks.
Across streaming platforms, three achieved record high shares of TV in July: YouTube (not including YouTube TV) viewing increased 5.6% vs. June, and its share climbed to 9.2% of total TV usage (the largest of all platforms); Netflix viewing increased 4.2% compared to June, which brought it to 8.5% of total TV usage.
Amazon Prime Video viewing was up 5% against June to represent 3.4% of total TV usage (+0.2 pts.) in July.
Broadcast viewership fell 3.6% in July to finish the month at 20.0% of overall television usage (-0.8 pts.), marking a new low for the broadcast category.
On a year-over-year basis, broadcast viewing was down 5.4% (-1.5 pts.), and cable viewing was down 12.5% (-4.8 pts.).
