Nielsen’s The Guage report provides monthly insights into media measurements across broadcast, cable, and streaming usage. Viewing numbers are usually higher in the summer as school lets out and people try to stay out of the heat. The June 2023 Guage Report showed an increase in viewership across all viewing habits, especially among younger age groups.
According to the June report, streaming held the biggest percentage of all viewing options, reeling in a record high of 37.7% of all audiences and netting a 5.8% increase since May. Cable took a hit due to an increase in cord cutting, only netting 30.6% of viewers. This is a steep drop from June of 2021 when The Guage reported cable made up 40.1% of viewers. Broadcast viewing trailed behind with 20.8% of audiences tuning in last June.
TV usage was up across the board in June, mostly due to youngsters streaming habits. Television use from ages 2-11 jumped up 16.3% since May while ages 12-17 increased viewing by 24.1%. Nielsen’s report found that streaming and video games were at the root of this increase, totaling 90% of increased usage for both age groups.
Looking at streamers viewing habits, The Guage found that YouTube had the most numbers of viewings with 8.8%. Netflix came in at a close second with 8.2% of viewings, a 0.3% rise since May. Disney+ jumped up 11.9% since May to 2.0% of all viewings. After the rebranding of HBO Max to Max, viewings rose 16.5% to 1.4% of all viewings.
Amazon Prime Video made up 3.2%, just shy of Hulu’s 3.5% share. Tubi streaming increased by 12.1% to 1.4% out of the bunch, followed by Peacock with 1.2%. Paramount+ and The Roku Channel both totaled 1.0% of viewings, while Pluto TV made up 0.9%.
Overall, streaming is replacing cable when looking at Nielsen’s reports over the past several years. More and more people are getting rid of cable in lieu of less expensive (and sometimes free) streaming options.