Streaming now exceeds broadcast TV viewing

Netflix and Youtube are the most popular streaming services, with streaming now exceeding broadcast TV viewing but lagging far behind cable TV, according to a new Nielsen monthly measuring report called The Gauge.

About 26 percent of TV viewing at home is streaming, just ahead of broadcast TV (25 percent) but behind cable TV (39 percent). The remainder is DVD or on-demand.

Netflix and Youtube are at 6 percent each, followed by Hulu (3 percent), Amazon Prime (2 percent) and Disney Plus (1 percent). Rival services such as BET Plus, Peacock, Tubi, Crackle, HBO Max, Apple TV Plus, Shudder and Paramount Plus are part of the other 8 percent.

But streaming is gaining quickly. Nielsen told The New York Times the percentage could rise to 33 percent by the end of the year.

This Nielsen study doesn't release info on any individual program on a streaming service.

And it may be underreporting streaming viewing. Why? Nielsen's newly named Gauge uses TV viewing in 14,000 homes catching internet traffic that passes through a router but does not count phone, tablet, desktop or laptop viewing.

It also uses different, less accurate audio recognition technology to provide a top 10 of most popular streaming original TV series, acquired TV series and movies across multiple platforms using millions of minutes watched.

The most recent top 10 covering May 17 - 23 featured "The Handmaid's Tale" on Hulu on top of the originals list, Netflix's "Army of the Dead" as most popular film and Netflix's "NCIS" repeats for shows picked up from other networks. Netflix had eight of the 10 shows on the original list and all 10 on the acquired list but just half of films, with Disney covering four of the top 10.

In the olden days, say, when broadcast and even cable TV dominated, tracking viewership and popularity wasn't that difficult. But the advent of streaming services and on-demand viewing has muddied the waters. Netflix will occasionally release cherry-picked numbers that are not remotely apples to apples to what Nielsen measures. Netflix also doesn't offer data on its borderline or failing shows.

And it's not just Netflix. Other services rarely provide data on individual shows and how many have viewed them.