Traditional TV Usage Rises in the U.S.

The August edition of Nielsen’s The Gauge reports that traditional television saw a rebound in the U.S. last month, with broadcast and cable together taking a 50.6 percent share of TV usage.

Streaming continued to take the leading share of viewing time, at 38.3 percent, although it was down by 1.6 percent since July, largely due to kids returning to school. After YouTube, Netflix retained its lead, with an 8.2 percent share of viewing time, well ahead of Hulu at 3.6 percent, Prime Video at 3.4 percent and Disney+ at 2 percent.

Among the streamers, Peacock saw the largest increase in viewing time, scoring a 1.2 percent share, just behind AVOD giant Tubi and Max at 1.4 percent and ahead of Roku Channel’s and Paramount+’s 1.1 percent each, marking a new milestone for the Paramount Global SVOD service.

Suits, with its availability on Netflix and Peacock, was still the top streaming title last month, with 11.7 billion minutes viewed, well ahead of Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer at 4.5 billion minutes. Disney+ had the third and fourth most-streamed shows: the preschool hit Bluey (4.2 billion minutes) and the feature film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (3.2 billion minutes).

Broadcast usage rose by 1.6 percent month-on-month to reach a share of 20.4 percent. This is the first gain recorded in the broadcast category since January 2023, boosted by variety and reality shows like America’s Got Talent and Big Brother, as drama and news remained the most-watched broadcast genres in August, accounting for 16.9 percent and 24.8 percent of the category, respectively.

Cable was up 1.7 percent, lifted by sports and news and primarily among viewers 65 plus. Cable scored a 30.2 percent share of viewing time.