For the first time, cable television viewership has dropped below 30 percent, signaling to Hollywood that viewers are no longer willing to pay a hefty sum every month for a package of entertainment channels, many of which they never watch.
According to a new report by audience, data, and analytics company Nielsen, broadcast and cable TV dropped to a new low in the United States last month in terms of total share among American viewers, with it falling below 50 percent of total TV usage (which includes satellite providers like DirecTV).
Viewers Choose Streaming Services
It was streaming services like Netflix and YouTube that accounted for a record 38.7 percent of total U.S. TV usage in July, the category’s largest share reported in Nielsen’s The Gauge monthly report to date. In general, overall TV usage increased 0.2 percent from June while usage among audiences under 18 was up 4 percent. The latter numbers are attributed to children being settled into their summer breaks. Viewing among adults 18 and older fell 0.3 percent.
Carly Mayberry
Author
As a seasoned journalist and writer, Carly has covered the entertainment and digital media worlds as well as local and national political news and travel and human-interest stories. She has written for Forbes and The Hollywood Reporter. Most recently, she served as a staff writer for Newsweek covering cancel culture stories along with religion and education.
