For the first time in its ratings Nielsen reported that more Americans watched television through streaming in the month of May than through traditional broadcast or cable.
According to its monthly reporting, Nielsen showed 44.8% of TV viewing came from streaming, which is the largest share to date. Broadcast and cable combined pulled 44.2% of TV viewing.
But streaming may not be able to hold the top spot from here on out, according to University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism lecturer Tom Bettag. He said that traditional TV won’t go down without a fight.
“Come football season and everybody is getting into the World Series, it will shift back, but this tells us where the future is; and yes, there’ll be a temporary slide back. But this is inevitable,” Bettag said.
There is not one streamer in particular that is absolutely dominating. YouTube TV saw about 12% of streamer viewership, Netflix just over 7%. Bettag said this niche television experience likely will not last.
“With this many streamers, the question is, how do you pay for the programs that you’re putting on? And people are used to very expensive programs,” Bettag said.
He sees the future of television playing out similarly to the deregulation of the airline industry. Numerous players entered the industry but long-term only a few companies survived, as there was only enough demand and capital for a few airlines.
“I would guess that a few will burst out being the best and doing the highest quality program,” he said.
While younger viewers tend to rely on streaming television, older viewers are joining them by bingeing Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus.
“The people who have shifted enormously are older people, people over 65, and they are the people who watch more television than anybody else, and the streaming services have won over those,” Bettag said.
But there is one viewing habit where older viewers continue to turn to cable and broadcast: their local news.
“They want to see their local weather, want to see their local sports and they trust those people,” said Bettag. “In the streaming world, you can’t go to Netflix and watch your local news, and that all has to be shaken out.”
But will there be any money to create local streaming news?
“I think it’s going to be really hard to monetize,” he said.
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