Streaming accounted for 34 percent of total TV usage in April, resulting in a very slight decrease compared to the previous month. In contrast, cable saw a bump in TV usage during last month.
Following March Madness and The Oscars in March, April can be more of a quiet month in TV land, and that appears to have been the case here. According to the latest data from Nielsen, total TV usage in the US decreased 1.9% from March to April, marking the third consecutive monthly decline.
Breaking down that data, streaming accounted for 34% of total TV usage in the month of April, which is 0.1% down on the 34.1% noted for March 2023. Cable, in second place, totaled 31.5% which marks a 0.4% increase on the month before. Elsewhere, Broadcast accounted for 23.1% (down 0.2%) and Other (up 0.1%).
According to Nielsen, the Cable increase was the first back-to-back share increase for the category since May 2021, when Nielsen first started recording data for The Gauge. The increase was also said to be fueled by an increase in cable news viewing.
In terms of individual services, YouTube (not including YouTube Tv) was top with 8.1% and this was followed by Netflix at 6.9%. Compared to last month, YouTube increased (up from 7.8%) while Netflix decreased (down from 7.3%).
Elsewhere, Hulu (not including Live TV) accounted for 3.3% (no change from the month before), Prime Video 2.9% (up 0.1%), Disney Plus 1.8% (no change), HBO Max 1.2% (no change), and Peacock at 1.1% (no change).
In terms of the free services, Tubi accounted for 1.1% while Pluto TV accounted for 0.8%. Compared to last month, this resulted in no change for Pluto TV and a 0.1% increase for Tubi.
