Streaming viewership fell for the second-straight month in September as football season gave broadcast a big boost, according to Nielsen’s monthly summary.
Netflix viewing was down 5%. Paramount Plus and Peacock showed similar declines.
In contrast, broadcast gained viewing for the second consecutive month. Volume was up 13%, raising over-the-air TV’s share of total viewing to 23%, up from 20.4% in August.
Nielsen said broadcast posted increases of more than 30% in the 18-49 and 25-54 demographics, which are still important to advertisers.
Sports viewing on broadcast rose 360% with the NFL and college football seasons in full swing.
Cable saw a 25.5% increase in September, but overall cable viewing fell 1.1% from August and cable’s share of total viewing fell to 29.8% from 30.2%.
Streaming viewing was down 1.7% from August and streaming share fell to 37.5% from 38.3%.
Netflix viewing fell despite the streamer having the top three title in streaming, with Suits, Virgin River and One Piece.
Some streaming services posted gains in September. Amazon Prime Video was up 7.5%, thanks to Thursday Night Football. Tubi was up 4.3% and The Roku Channel was up 1.4%.
YouTube remained the top streamer with a 9% share, down from 9.1% in August. Netflix’s share was 7.8%, compared to 8.2%, followed by Prime Video at 3.6%, up from 3.4%; Hulu at 3.6%, unchanged; Disney Plus at 1.9%, off from 2%; Tubi at 1.3%, unchanged; Max at 1.2%, down from 1.3%; Roku Channel at 1.1%, unchanged; Peacock at 1.1%, down from 1.2%; Paramount Plus at 1%, down from 1.1%; and Pluto TV at 0.8%, off from 0.9%.
Total TV usage was flat compared to a year ago, Nielsen said.
Linear streaming via multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) or virtual MVPD apps represented 5.7% of total television usage in September, the highest total so far this year. Nielsen counts streaming of linear network programming within the broadcast or cable categories and not as part of streaming viewership.
