Streaming Is Now 20% Of TV Viewing, Netflix Clings To Top Spot

About 20% of American TV consumption is now done by streaming, according a new report from Nielsen that also says Netflix Inc NFLX remains the top way customers stream their entertainment.

The percentage of TV watching that is now done through streaming has almost doubled since 2018, according to the new Nielsen February Total Audience Report.

How People Are Streaming

According to an Axios report on the latest Nielsen data, almost a third of streamers are watching content on Netflix, followed by YouTube at 21% and Walt Disney Co's DIS Hulu at 12%. The Amazon Prime service from Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN gets another 8% of viewers. The data also show, however, that almost half of viewers subscribe to three or more streaming services, while about 60% subscribe to at least two. Only 10% subscribe to four or more.

The company breakout may change in the coming months with several new entrants into the market that have only recently gone on line, including Disney+ and the Apple+ service from Apple Inc. AAPL.

See Also: Disney Is Now Officially Netflix's Biggest Problem And Yet Another Friend To Roku

Axios reported that while younger viewers spend the most time streaming, the new way of watching isn't just a young people thing. Nearly 90% of those over 65 also subscribe to at least one streaming service, according to Nielsen.

While the news may be good for Netflix, it follows a note from analysts at Needham, also based on Nielsen Total Audience Report data, that said the subscription-based streaming model, on which Netflix depends, is losing ground to advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) services.

Needham said Roku Inc. ROKU is the “winning aggregator” in the U.S. of SVOD and AVOD services.

Podcasting Also Growing

In a separate report, Nielsen reported that podcasting is now growing at a rate of 20% a year, and the podcast audience could double by 2023.

Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin on Unsplash