Streaming usage hits new record high in December
Streaming usage hits new record high in December
Netflix and Prime Video helped streaming take a bigger portion of total TV viewing than ever before, according to new Nielsen data.
The holidays were a veritable feast for streaming services. That’s according to Nielsen, which this week released its monthly “The Gauge” report detailing which TV sources saw the most viewing over the course of the month. Streaming rose to a new record high usage during December, powered by gains from Max, Netflix, Prime Video, and YouTube. It’s an impressive gain, and another sign that cord-cutting is continuing to bite into cable and broadcast audiences.
Key Details:
- Netflix matched a service record by accounting for 8.5% of total TV viewing in December.
- Prime Video set a new platform best by hitting 4.0% of all TV watched.
- Max saw an 18% viewing increase during the month, the largest increase of any streamer.
Nielsen’s data found that streaming accounted for 43.3% of all TV watched during the month of December, which constitutes a new record high. Viewers spent 4% more time watching TV in December than they did in November, and Christmas Day hosted two of the top six most-watched telecasts of the month.
Those telecasts were the two NFL games hosted by Netflix on Christmas. Those live streams drew more than 23 million viewers each and helped Netflix jump to 8.5% of total TV viewing during the month. That ties a viewing record for the streamer, which also saw big audience jumps thanks to its original movie “Carry-On” and the return of new episodes of “Squid Game.”
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Other streamers also gained viewership during the month. Prime Video broke a record of its own in December, accounting for 4.0% of all TV watched thanks to “Thursday Night Football,” as well as its holiday blockbuster movie “Red One” and its unscripted series “Beast Games,” which compiled 700 million viewing minutes in its first three episodes.
Max was also a beneficiary of the uptick in streaming usage during the month. Its viewership rose by 18% during the month, thanks to the new series “Dune: Prophecy” and some of its back-catalog shows like “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory.”
YouTube also set a new viewership high during the month, accounting for 11.1% of all TV viewed. Cable TV, on the other hand, dipped below 25% of all TV watched for the first time in 2024, and declined a full 4.4 percentage points from December 2023’s figure.
College and pro football still helped buoy the numbers for broadcast and cable TV during December, but the writing on the wall seems clear from Nielsen’s data. Streaming is continuing to gain a larger and larger share of overall TV viewing, and with more football games migrating to streaming services, that trend is only likely to accelerate in the future.
Prime Video
Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.