For the first time ever, overall traditional TV usage in July fell below 50%, as streaming viewing habits among consumers make up an increasingly large chunk. Pay-TV viewing showed a decline as evidenced by multiple companies' earnings reports, with their share decreasing to less than 30% in the same month. Meanwhile, streaming had the largest share when Nielsen began tracking the data, reaching 38.7%.
Traditional TV usage is experiencing a steady decline, based on Nielsen's The Gauge monthly streaming report, which stated that usage among pay-TV customers dropped to 29.6% while broadcast registered a 20% share in July. This marked the first time that traditional TV usage fell below 50%.During the same month, streaming services had the highest reported share of TV, reaching nearly 39%. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, streaming usage has gone up while pay-TV has fallen.Leading pay-TV providers, like Comcast and Charter, reported a quarterly drop in customers, with 543,000 and 200,000 respectively. Furthermore, Macquarie's report indicated a year-over-year decrease of 9.6% in the number of pay-TV subscribers, signifying a drop of 4.4 million households.The second quarter of 2021 recorded the lowest number of pay-TV households since the same period of 2022, with 41 million subscribers. During the same time, there was also a 12.5% drop in pay-TV viewership and a 5.4% decrease in broadcast viewership.Streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ have seen a decline in subscriber growth, with newer services like Paramount+ and Peacock only seeing marginal gains. Consequently, streaming companies are now focusing on profitability as traditional TV continues to shrink.Those streaming services have also been forced to raise their subscription prices, including for ad-free Disney+ and Hulu, in an effort to increase revenue. However, according to Macquarie, these price hikes have not spurred a significant rise in subscriber numbers.
As advertising becomes more of a factor for spurring revenue, companies are actively taking measures to reduce password sharing. Additionally, limiting expenditure on producing fresh programming is also being employed as a cost saving technique. This shift away from creating unique shows coincides with many viewers tuning in to conventional formats. An example of this is Netflix's 'Suits', starring Meghan Markle, which initially aired on NBCUniversal's USA Network and was later accessible through Peacock. Nielsen states that in July, the series accounted for 18 billion minutes of streaming time on Netflix and Peacock, leading to a 4.2% boost in viewership for Netflix and 8.5% of total TV usage. Following closely afterwards is Hulu, Prime Video, and Disney+, which profited from its animated series 'Bluey', another in the world of licensed programming.
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