Streaming Usage Rebounds in May, as Roku Channel Hits a Viewing Time Milestone
April showers bring May flowers, or so the saying goes. Streaming providers are finding that to be true this month, as new data from the TV ratings firm Nielsen shows that streaming usage jumped 2.5% in May, climbing to 36.4% of total TV usage.
The news got even better for the free ad-supported TV (FAST) hub and ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) service The Roku Channel. The service accounted for 1.1% of total TV viewing in the month of May, tying with Peacock and placing it right behind services like Max.
There are now three free streaming services in Nielsen’s top 10: The Roku Channel, Pluto TV (0.9% of total viewing time) and Tubi (1.3% of total viewing time). The data reinforces what other surveys from different firms have shown consistently; ad-supported streaming is here to stay. One study found that 64% of Americans use at least one AVOD service, and Nielsen’s numbers show that people are actually spending time with those services, instead of simply signing up and never watching.
The Roku Channel was no doubt helped across the 1% threshold by the debut of its new original series “The Great American Baking Show,” which premiered in May. Altogether, The Roku Channel now has 71.6 million monthly active users, and seemingly adds a new channel every day. Most recently, the service picked up 15 owned-and-operated stations from ABC in markets across the country.
Elsewhere in the streaming world, Netflix and Prime Video were the biggest gainers in the premium subscription video category. Netflix gained a full percentage point, fueled by methodology changes on Nielsen’s part as well as having the top three streaming titles of the month in “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” (5.4 billion viewing minutes), “A Man Called Otto” (3.1 billion) and “The Mother” (3.0 billion).
Prime Video was chiefly aided by “Citadel” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which aired much of its final season in May. “Citadel” started as a ratings powerhouse for Prime Video, but it lost steam as the season went along. Despite that, its overall numbers are good enough that Amazon intends to turn the show into an international franchise, and that more of its original series could follow the same model.
The NHL and NBA playoffs fueled a 12% increase in sports viewing in May, but that wasn’t enough to keep cable viewing overall from dropping 5.4%. That’s yet another sign that cord-cutting is accelerating, and even the popularity of live sports isn’t enough to keep cable on its feet for much longer.
Roku Channel
The Roku Channel is a free live TV streaming service that provides 350+ live linear streaming channels and more than 80,000 free movies and TV shows. The library contains entertainment from several different decades, including some major hits.