Streaming Share Hits New High as TV Viewing Rises in September

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Paramount’s Pluto TV gets ranked by Nielsen for first time with 1% of viewing

Amazon Prime Video series 'Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'
Originals like Prime Video’s ‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ helped streaming services hit a new high in terms of viewer share in September. (Image credit: Amazon)

With Thursday Night Football, Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power and House of the Dragon drawing viewers, streaming in September took its largest-ever share of viewing, according to Nielsen.

Overall TV viewing was up 2.4% in September from August, pushed by the kickoff of the NFL season and other sports programming.

Streaming’s share hit 36.9%, up 1.9 percentage points from August when it had a 35% share. Streaming usage is up 34.6% from last September.

YouTube (including YouTube TV)  jumped to an 8% share, leading all streaming services for the first time and up from its 7.6% share in August.

Netflix’s share dipped to 7.3% from 7.6% while Hulu’s share edged up to a record 3.8% from 3.7% in August.

NIelsen September Streaming Share

(Image credit: NIelsen)

Amazon Prime Video’s share was flat at 2.9% but viewing was up 34.7% from last year thanks to Rings of Power and Thursday Night Football.

Disney Plus has a 1.9% share, unchanged from last month.

HBO Max’s share rule to 1.3% from 1.2% with House of the Dragon. Usage was up 9.9% month over month.

Paramount Global’s ad supported streaming platform Pluto TV achieved a 1% share for the feast time, earning it inclusion in Nielsen rankings. Nielsen said it is the first free ad-supported streaming TV service to break out of the other category in streaming. Paramount’s Paramount Plus did not make the list.

Streaming also got a boost from increased viewing of virtual MVPDs, which had 5.4% of total viewing, up from 4.2% in August.

Broadcast usage rose 12.4 powered by a 222% uptick in sports viewing with the college and pro football seasons in full swing. Broadcast’s share rose to 24.2% from 22.1% in August, its best since May. Broadcast viewing is down 7.1%  and 2.1 share points from a year ago.

Sports viewing was up 40% on cable, but cable’s share fell to 33.8% from 34.5% in August. Cable viewing is down 9.3% from a year ago and it has lost 3.8 share points over that time. ■

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.