Infographic: Streaming Accounts For Just 27% Of US TV Screen Time

When Netflix reported its latest quarterly results earlier this week, the company shared an interesting bit of information aiming to reassure investors of its growth potential in light of the latest slowdown.

Streaming, it said, is still very much at the beginning of the road, despite commanding a fair share of the conversation surrounding TV content, especially among younger audiences. According to a new monthly Nielsen report called “The Gauge”, streaming accounted for just 27 percent of total TV screen time in June 2021, with linear TV (i.e. cable and broadcast) still dominating video consumption on the big screen. While cable is still far ahead of streaming at 40 percent of TV screen time, broadcast has actually been overtaken, accounting for just 23 percent of TV consumption.

Breaking down the streaming total by individual service reveals how much room to grow there still is for Netflix, YouTube and the like. At 7 percent of TV screen time, Netflix is the leader of the streaming pack, ahead of YouTube (6 percent) and Hulu (3 percent). “Considering that we are less mature in other countries and that this excludes mobile screens (where we believe our share of engagement is even lower), we are confident that we have a long runway for growth,” Netflix wrote in its letter to shareholders. Looking at the age gap in TV consumption, the future does indeed look bright for streaming services.