Four streaming platforms capture record-high viewing; Netflix sees largest monthly growth, gaining a full share point
If there were ever any doubts that streaming has forever changed TV viewing, trends from June 2022 will certainly put them to rest. Not only did four platforms attract record viewership shares, the streaming category in aggregate claimed more than one-third of total TV time—the largest share for streaming since the inception of The Gauge in May 2021.
TV viewing is seasonally lower in the summer months, but total TV usage increased by 1.9% on a month-over-month basis, bolstered by a 7.7% increase in streaming, which raised its audience share 1.8 points to a new high-water mark of 33.7%—6.3 points higher than in June 2021.
Across streaming platforms, the fireworks started a month early, as Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube all gained audience share, and posted viewing records along the way:
- Disney+: 14.7% increase in minutes viewed; 0.2 share points gained
- Amazon Prime Video: 11.1% increase in minutes viewed; 0.2 share points gained
- YouTube (including YouTube TV): 5.2% increase in minutes viewed; 0.2 share points gained
- Netflix: 16.3% increase in minutes viewed; 1 share point gained
Across broadcast, the official end of the TV season and a lack of new content resulted in a 6.7% decline in viewership and a loss of 2.1 share points between May and June 2022. The end of the traditional TV season affected drama the most, as viewing for this category fell 31% in June. Sports was a bright spot for broadcast, though, as the NHL and NBA finals took place in June, driving a 43.8% spike in viewing.
Sports was also a factor in cable viewing, but for the opposite reason. With the NBA playoffs concluding on cable in May , sports viewing on cable fell 42.1%—too large a drop to be offset by the feature film category, which is always a notable contributor for cable. In June, feature film viewing was up 15.8% from May, representing 13.7% of total cable viewing minutes. On a year-over-year basis, cable viewing minutes fell 11.9%, resulting in a drop of 5 full share points.
