For 1st month ever, streamers rule broadcast, cable networks

SAN FRANCISCO

This summer has been a breakthrough for streaming, with the time viewers spent watching services like Netflix and Hulu outpacing broadcast and cable television networks in July for the first month ever.

Viewers spent 35 percent of their time with streamers, 34 percent on cable networks and 22 percent watching broadcast television last month, the Nielsen company said on Aug. 18. Video on demand or DVD playback accounted for much of the other time. July is an unusual month, broadcast TV is essentially on vacation with little live sports or scripted programming and a prime-time schedule clogged with game shows, but it’s a clear indication of how rapidly the business is changing.

“It was inevitable,” said David Bianculli, professor of television studies at Rowan University and critic on NPR’s “Fresh Air.”
“I knew it had to happen, but I didn’t know it would happen as quickly as it did.”
Streaming’s audience share in July was up 23 percent compared to July 2021, Nielsen said. Broadcast television’s share was down 10 percent and cable down 9 percent.

Streaming services learned from what cable did in its infancy, using broadcasting’s quiet summer months to put forward some of their best programming, said Brian Fuhrer, Nielsen’s senior vice president for product strategy and thought leadership. New episodes of “Stranger Things” alone on Netflix accounted for 18 billion minutes of streaming, while “Virgin River” and “The Umbrella Academy” also did well.

Netflix is still the top streamer, but it no longer dominates the field the way it once did. In July, Hulu had strong numbers for “Only Murders in the Building” and “The Bear,” while Amazon Prime hit with “The Terminal List” and “The Boys.”
The return of football games and a new season of fresh scripted shows this fall should boost the broadcast networks, Fuhrer said.
Yet it’s hard to see them pushing back to a level of dominance approaching anything in the past.