Topline
The start of the Summer Olympics and popularity of shows like “House of the Dragon” and “Love Island USA” pushed streaming to account for 41.4% of all TV usage in July—the highest share ever and 5% higher than seen in June, according to Nielsen’s latest Gauge Report.
Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy in “House of the Dragon.”
Key Facts
The Paris Olympics were on for only three days in July, but the event is credited in the report for pushing total TV usage up 2.3% compared to the month before and 3.5% compared to the same month last year.
The games also dominated broadcast viewing—when TV usage is isolated by week, the start of the Olympics in late July pushed broadcast viewing to more than 22% of total TV usage and the games accounted for seven of the top 10 telecasts of the month.
Peacock, where the Olympics could be streamed, accounted for 1.5% of all TV use, the highest share ever for the streamer (Nielsen says the popularity of reality show “Love Island USA” also contributed to the bump).
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Big Number
4.7 billion. That’s how many minutes were spent watching “House of the Dragon” on Max last month, making it the most-streamed show of July. “Bluey” on Disney+ was watched for 4.3 billion minutes and “The Boys” on Prime Video was watched for 4.2 billion. Despite being the most popular show of the month, “House of the Dragon” was viewed half as many minutes as the previous month’s most-streamed show. In June, ” Bridgerton” on Netflix was watched for 9.3 billion minutes.
Tangent
YouTube, which has long been the most popular streaming service, broke its own record in July and became the first streaming platform to ever exceed 10% of total TV usage. YouTube accounted for 10.4% of all TV use in July, followed by Netflix in second place (8.4%), Prime Video in third (3.4%), Hulu (2.7%) and Disney+ (2.1%). Combined, TVs were used for streaming 41.4% of the time, cable viewing 26.7%, broadcast viewing 20.3% and “other” 11.6%.
Surprising Fact
Cable news viewership also soared in June due to coverage of the Republican National Convention and of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. Cable news viewership rose 23% compared to the month before, Nielsen said, and 52% compared to July of 2023. Of the top 25 cable telecasts of last month, 24 of them were broadcast on the Fox News Channel.
Further Reading
Mary Roeloffs is a Forbes reporter who covers breaking news with a frequent focus on the entertainment industry, streaming, sports news, publishing, pop culture and climate change. She joined Forbes in 2023 and lives in Dallas. She’s covered Netflix’s hottest documentaries, a surge of assaults reported on social media, the most popular books of the year and how climate change stands to impact the way we eat. Roeloffs was included on Editor & Publisher Magazine’s “ 25 Under 30” list in 2023 and worked covering local news in the greater Boston area from 2017 to 2023. She graduated with a double major in political science and journalism from Northeastern University. Follow Roeloffs for continued coverage of streaming wars, pop culture news and trending topics.
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