YouTube tops the streaming charts for TV viewing
Image credit: Kelly Sikkema
YouTube has broken records as the first streaming platform to make double digits for TV viewing in the U.S..
Who’s the biggest streamer when it comes to TV viewing? Not Prime Video. Not Hulu. Not Disney+. Not even Netflix. YouTube takes the top spot amongst streaming services, becoming the first ever streaming service to take double digit percentages for overall TV viewing in the U.S..
That’s according to Nielsen’s TV and streaming report for July which also shows that streaming is the largest source of TV viewing in the U.S.. Streaming now makes up 41.4% of TV watched in the US, with YouTube topping the list of streaming platforms with 10.4% of the usage. Nielsen report that streaming levels were over 5% higher in July compared to June.
YouTube is the first streaming platform to ever exceed 10% total usage. YouTube hit 9.9% of TV usage in June and secured the second largest share of TV viewing among all media distributors. Nielsen wrote: “July is typically a peak month for streaming usage, and this year, each week of the July interval led to the top four most streamed weeks ever reported by Nielsen.”
YouTube may be a long-standing platform but it’s growth continues to reach new heights. Their dedicated music streaming platform YouTube Music was recently revealed as the fastest growing music platform, beating even Spotify at rates of growth.
Whilst YouTube may be nearly 2 decades old, it isn’t losing relevance with newer generations. A new study in the UK revealed that children aged 7-14 viewed YouTube as the “coolest” brand. And, in case you thought that YouTube’s popularity remains in the West, CEO Neal Mohan recently revealed that India is now the number one place in the world for YouTube views.