January was a huge month for TV. Nielsen reports both broadcast and streaming were at all time highs thanks to a variety of reasons. Streaming clocked an impressive 197.6 billion viewing minutes, up 12% from December which beats out the record set by Christmas week 2021 (with 183 billion viewing minutes). Popular titles contributing to the high viewership include The Witcher and Cobra Kai on Netflix, Encanto on Disney+, and more.
This boosted streaming to set another record with 28.9% share of all TV usage for the month.
Broadcast consumption was up 9% versus December with two categories as the main contributors to the surge in viewership = sports and drama.
The AFC and NFC championship games were heavily watched this year, generated 18.6 billion viewing minutes. To put that into comparison, Netflix’s Lucifer was the most popular streaming Original of 2021, and it generated 18.3 billion viewing minutes across the entire year.
Broadcast viewers were also watching dramas like This is Us, Blue Bloods, Chicago Fire, and more after getting over a month of holiday content.
The ‘Other’ category was up about half a share point, indicating that streaming services like HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, etc are gaining traction. Meanwhile, Cable lost 1.7 share points to finish at 35.6% of all television viewing.