DIS - TV usage drops again in May but streaming keeps rolling

2023-06-25 10:02:00 ET

Television usage continued a seasonal decline in May -- and it also declined year-over-year, while streaming continued to gain share against other uses that also saw drops in time spent.

Overall TV consumption fell for the fourth straight month, down 4.4% from April and down 2.7% year-over-year, according to " The Gauge " from Nielsen, the ratings firm's monthly overall look at TV delivery platforms.

TV streaming volume rose 2.5% month-over-month, though, and streaming's share of TV usage rose to a new record 36.4%. (A methodology change gave a small extra boost to the Streaming category, but it would have finished at a record high even without the change.)

Meanwhile, other categories of usage declined again. Cable's share of TV viewing fell to 31.1% from 31.5% last month, and Broadcast's share dropped to 22.8% from 23.1%. In absolute terms, cable viewing fell 5.4% and broadcast viewing dropped 5.5%.

Broadcast took a hit from a 25% drop in sports viewing, while sports viewing on cable rose 12%, thanks to heavy coverage of the NBA Finals on ESPN ( DIS ) and Turner networks ( WBD ).

And "Other" usage -- heavily videogaming, but also including such uses as viewing video discs -- dipped to a 9.7% from 11.5% share (though a part of that drop was tied to the streaming methodology change).

Turning to the individual streaming platforms, big names built some momentum in May, with a little help from some streaming originals linked back to their originators in the new methodology. YouTube ( GOOG ) ( GOOGL ) remained the top individual streamer in Nielsen's numbers, building its share of TV usage to 8.5% from last month's 8.1%. And Netflix ( NFLX ) was still No. 2, building its share to 7.9% from 6.9%.

Hulu's ( DIS ) ( CMCSA ) share rose to 3.7% from 3.3%, while Amazon Prime Video ( AMZN ) rose to 3.1% from 2.8%. Disney+ ( DIS ), for its part, held steady at 1.8%.

Meanwhile, the steady growth off a small base for free ad-supported television (FAST) continues -- and it's now competing for share with smaller subscription video services. Tubi ( FOX ) ( FOXA ) grew its share to 1.3% from 1.1%, and in the move passed up Max ( WBD ), at 1.2%, and Peacock ( CMCSA ), at 1.1%. And FAST entry The Roku Channel ( ROKU ) debuted in Nielsen's streamer count with a 1.1% share, just beyond the share of FAST brother Pluto TV ( PARA ) ( PARAA ) at 0.9%.

"Other" streamers (including smaller services like Crackle ( CSSE ) as well as linear streamers like Spectrum ( CHTR ), DirecTV ( T ) and Sling TV ( DISH )) fell to a combined 5.8% from 6.9%.

Pay TV distributors: Comcast ( CMCSA ), Charter ( CHTR ), Dish Network ( DISH ), Verizon FiOS ( VZ ), Optimum/Suddenlink ( ATUS ), Atlantic Broadband (OTCPK:CGEAF), Sparklight ( CABO ).

Relevant local broadcast tickers: Nexstar Media Group ( NXST ), Sinclair Broadcast Group ( SBGI ), Gray Television ( GTN ), Tegna ( TGNA ), E.W. Scripps ( SSP ). National broadcasters: ABC ( DIS ), NBC ( CMCSA ), CBS ( PARA ) ( PARAA ), Fox ( FOX ) ( FOXA ). And some ad-tech names tied to connected TV: The Trade Desk ( TTD ), Magnite ( MGNI ), PubMatic ( PUBM ), Criteo ( CRTO ), Roku ( ROKU ).

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