Streaming Overtakes Broadcast and Cable Watchers for First Time

America is now officially a nation of cord-cutters, according to new Nielsen data.

For the first time ever, the number of viewers who watched TV via streaming services has surpassed the combined total of broadcast and cable viewing, the media research company said in its monthly Gauge report Tuesday (June 17).

According to the report, streaming accounted for 44.8% of TV viewership last month, the largest share on record. Broadcast and cable TV made up a respective 20.1% and 24.1%.

“While many have expected this milestone to occur sooner, sporting events, news and new season content have kept broadcast and cable surprisingly resilient,” said Brian Fuhrer, Nielsen’s senior vice president of product strategy and thought leadership.

The figures show that streaming has become the dominant viewing forward, with its usage up 71% in the last four years, while broadcast and cable viewing have dropped 21% and 39%, respectively, in the same time frame.

Still, traditional TV “has shown surprising resilience,” Nielsen said, pointing out that while the trend of streaming exceeding traditional TV viewership is likely not permanent, “it presumably will be in the near future.”

However, things might shift back, at least in the short-term, in the fall upon the return of football and new broadcast TV shows.

Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao noted that the milestone coincides with the fourth anniversary of the company’s Gauge.

“It’s also a credit to media companies, who have deftly adapted their programming strategies to meet their viewers where they are watching TV — whether it’s on streaming or linear platforms,” Rao added.

In addition to the 71% uptick in streaming usage, six new streaming services are now reported in the list of platforms that exceed a full share point of TV usage, Nielsen said. “The original list included Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Prime Video and Disney+, but had expanded to 11 platforms as of last month.”

“Among subscription services, Netflix has gone wire-to-wire as the leading SVOD provider in total TV usage for four straight years,” the release said. “Netflix’s viewership has climbed 27% since May 2021, and the streamer owned the biggest day in streaming history, thanks to two exclusive NFL games it live streamed on Christmas Day 2024.”

As reported here in April, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos has set forth the company’s vision for growth, which includes plans to diversify beyond online streaming.

At the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025, Sarandos was asked how Netflix plans to arrive at its goal of becoming a trillion-dollar company, which seems tough to achieve unless they expand beyond streaming.

In the past five years, Netflix has doubled its revenue, boosted profits tenfold and tripled its market capitalization, the CEO added.

“So there is a path to (a trillion-dollar market cap), obviously, but it all is incredibly dependent on executing well,” Sarandos said.