Nielsen: Traditional TV Share Under 50 Percent for 1st Time

Streaming viewership share has grown to an all-time high of 38.7% in July as traditional TV usage of broadcast and cable TV has dropped below 50% for the first time ever, according to Nielsen.

Cord cutting has caused cable TV’s share to fall below 30% in July (29.6%, down 2.9% from June), while broadcast dropped to 20% (down 3.6% in July) and the combined streaming services reached highs (up 2.9% last month).

Cable had a 40.1% monthly share as recently as June 2021.

“Linear TV [is] past the point of no return,” Macquarie analyst Tim Nollen wrote in a Monday memo, Yahoo! Finance reported.

Streaming’s rise has been steady at the expense of traditional TV since the surges during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns forced economic changes and had Americans hunkered down and seeking in-home entertainment options.

Revenue for cable and satellite services is “probably permanently negative,” according to Nollen, as pricing increases would fail to increase usage.

“We think the metrics for linear TV are all bad,” he added to Yahoo! “Ad revenue across our media network coverage fell 13% on average in Q2, down from -8% in 1Q, which included the Super Bowl. We forecast the second half of the year will get slightly better, but to remain negative including an off-political year comparison.”

Pay-TV homes fell to 41 million in America during the second quarter of this year, down from 50 million in the second quarter of 2021 and 45 million in the second quarter of last year, according to Macquarie.

“On a year-over-year basis, broadcast viewing was down 5.4% (-1.5 pts.), and cable viewing was down 12.5% (-4.8 pts.),” according to Nielsen.

While Americans have cut the cord of cable and satellite TV due to rising costs, streaming services are now experiencing a crunch, too, raising prices as they try to achieve profitability, according to CNBC.

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