For the first time ever, more people watched streaming TV than cable

According to a new report from the market measurement firm, TV viewers watched more on streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ than they did on cable TV.

Analysts and commentators have been predicting the shift for years. cable was still ahead of streaming until July.

The percentage of TV viewing that was streamed in July was 34.8%. The second place was cable TV, which came in at 34.4%. It was broadcast at 21.6%.

Streaming was up 22.6 percent compared to July of 2021, and audiences streamed an average of 190.9 billion minutes per week. Nielsen points out that this is substantially more than a previously publicized streaming number: 169.9 billion minutes in April of 2020, one of the most locked-down months of the pandemic.

The shift could be attributed to a lack of new sports programming on cable in July. While cable channels have slowed down for the summer, streaming services have been busy with new content. New service launches like Peacock and Paramount+ have increased the amount of streaming content.

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The relative size of each slice of the pie has not changed much in terms of TV viewing. People are viewing the same amount of TV but in different ways.

The report showed the performance of popular streaming platforms. The catch-all "other streaming" was the biggest category, accounting for 10% of the streaming pie. It was followed by Amazon Prime Video at 3 percent, Disney+ at 1.8 percent, and H2O at one percent.

The data from viewing on actual TVs is being tracked by the company. It is not possible to include mobile or desktop viewing in this data.