A recent "The Gauge" report released by Nielsen reveals that streaming reached a new record last month, making up 30.4% of total TV viewing and surpassing its previous record of 29.7% set in March 2022. Despite overall TV viewing dropped by 2.1% from March, streaming volume was virtually identical to the prior month, helping to increase its share by over 0.6%.
"The Gauge" also indicated that HBO Max achieved a 1% share of streaming for the first time, allowing it to move out of the "Other Streaming" category and stand alongside fellow streaming platforms that have previously exceeded the 1% share threshold. The "Other Streaming" category, which includes any high-bandwidth video streaming on TV that is not individually broken out, has grown by more than two share points since the report released last year's data. The category's consistent growth reflects insights into audiences' rising engagement with the growing number of streaming platforms, as detailed in Nielsen's State of Play report.
The report also found that broadcast viewing decreased by 3% in April and lost 0.2 share points from March, driven by a nearly 15% decrease in content from the Drama genre as season finales began to air, in addition to a 38% drop in sports on broadcast networks. Broadcast news viewing remained flat compared to March.
Cable's share points also dropped by 0.2 in April and saw a month over month usage decline of 2.5%. While sports viewing on cable increased 17% from March, driven primarily by both the NBA playoffs and the NCAA Final Four, cable news saw its first downward trend in several months (-16.9%) which hampered cable's overall share.
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