As a long-time TV enthusiast who has witnessed the evolution of viewing habits over the decades, I must say that the latest Nielsen data for July 2024 has truly left me spellbound! The surge in TV usage during the Olympics was not just a spectacle to behold, but a testament to the enduring power of sports as a unifying force.
It wasn’t until late July that the Olympics commenced, yet within only a few days, their impact on U.S. television viewership became apparent.
In contrast to the usual trend, where TV usage tends to decrease in July due to a slowdown in both broadcast and cable TV, Nielsen data reveals that overall TV viewing actually rose by approximately 2.3% during this month compared to June.
As a long-time sports enthusiast, I have always looked forward to the Olympics every four years. However, this year, my enthusiasm was rekindled like never before. Despite only three days of coverage from Paris being included in Nielsen’s monthly Gauge snapshot, the Olympics managed to capture a significant chunk of TV use. In fact, broadcast networks saw a 0.3% increase in TV usage for the month, climbing up from its all-time low of 20% in July 2023. Moreover, during the week that the Olympics began, the share of TV usage rose even further to 22%. It just goes to show that the Olympic Games continue to captivate audiences worldwide, and I’m glad to have witnessed this resurgence firsthand.
Peacock usage spiked by 33 percent month to month, as the streaming hub for the Olympics recorded 4.5 billion minutes of viewing just over the games’ opening weekend. The NBCUniversal streamer had 1.5 percent overall TV use in July, up from 1.2 percent in June for its second-best showing ever behind January, when it carried an exclusive NFL playoff game.
Once again, streaming services saw a significant surge last month, marking the second consecutive time they claimed an unprecedented share of TV viewing. This month, streamers accounted for 41.4% of all TV consumption, up from 40.3% in June. YouTube broke new ground by becoming the first platform to surpass 10% of total TV usage, reaching a staggering 10.4%. July witnessed four of the top ten days with the highest streaming activity since Nielsen started monitoring in 2020.
In July, Disney+ saw a record high in viewership, accounting for 2.1% of all television usage, largely due to 4.3 billion minutes spent watching Bluey. Similarly, the Roku Channel and Amazon’s Prime Video also experienced their best performances. The Roku Channel claimed 1.6% of total TV use, while Amazon’s Prime Video accounted for 3.4%, marking its highest viewership in eight months.
In comparison to June, cable viewing remained approximately equal, but its share of TV usage decreased by half a percentage point due to an increase in streaming. The surge in news programming, fueled by coverage of the assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and the Republican National Convention, led to a 23% rise compared to June. Fox News dominated with 24 out of the top 25 cable broadcasts.
Nielsen’s Gauge figures for July 2024 are below.
Platforms
Television Usage Breakdown: 41.4% for streaming, 26.7% for cable, 20.3% for broadcast, and 11.6% for other methods.
Streaming Services
Here are the streaming services and their corresponding market shares:
Read More
Sorry. No data so far.
2024-08-20 15:24