In contrast, cable and linear broadcasting saw a drop in their share of TV usage in June. — urbazon/Getty Images
In June, American audiences spent more than 40% of their TV viewing time watching streaming platforms, an all-time high, according to Nielsen data. Streamers' flagship shows contributed to this trend, with titles such as Bridgerton and Your Honor topping the charts.
For the first time ever, time spent on streaming platforms topped 40% of total TV viewing in June in the USA. According to the latest figures from Nielsen, US audiences devoted 40.3% of their total TV usage to streaming platforms, the highest proportion of streaming viewership ever recorded by Nielsen. It also marks the best performance for any single TV viewership category, surpassing the previous record of 40.1% set by cable in June 2021.
In contrast, cable and linear broadcasting saw a drop in their share of TV usage in June. According to Nielsen, viewers spent 27.2% of their TV viewing time watching cable TV and 20.5% watching traditional broadcast TV, compared to 28.2% and 22.3% in May.
The success of streaming is largely fueled by platforms' many flagship shows. The third season of Bridgerton continues to climb the list of most-watched shows on Netflix. After debuting in 10th place at the beginning of July, this latest season, starring Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton, has moved up to sixth place in the platform's Top 10 most popular English-language TV list. In total, the new season has scored some 98.5 million views. Indeed, Bridgerton creator Shonda Rhimes has much to celebrate, since her show racked up 9.3 billion viewing minutes in June, becoming the most-watched streaming title of the month, Nielsen reports.
Your Honor, starring Bryan Cranston, follows in second place with 7.5 billion viewing minutes across the Netflix and Paramount+ platforms.
Season 4 of The Boys, the irreverent show about evil superheroes, racked up four billion viewing minutes on Prime Video in June. A fine performance for Eric Kripke's show that's expected to draw to a close with its fifth season, due in 2025/2026. Finally, Max performed well with the long-awaited second season of House of the Dragon. Throughout the month, US audiences spent 3.4 billion viewing minutes watching the latest season of the Game of Thrones prequel.
Overall, streaming audiences grew by 6% compared to May. This increase is partly due to a 16% rise in viewing among 2-11 year-olds.
Unsurprisingly, YouTube, one of the preferred platforms for young users, came out on top against its rivals in the streaming sector, with 9.9% usage versus 8.4% for Netflix. Tubi, the advertising-funded platform, is also making headway, achieving its highest score ever with a 2% share of usage. – AFP Relaxnews
