It's official: Streaming is now the king of TV

In May, more Americans watched TV on streaming than on cable and network TV

- JOHN KOBLIN

The streaming future is now the streaming present.

Americans watched more television via streaming services than they did through cable and broadcast networks in the month of May, Nielsen said in a report on Tuesday. It is the first time that has happened over a full month.

Nielsen began comparing streaming viewership with traditional network and cable television in 2021. At that time, even with streaming on a rapid ascent, the gap between the two was huge: Nearly two-thirds of all TV time was spent watching cable and broadcast, and just 26 percent was with streaming.

That lead has now collapsed. Here's how streaming overtook traditional TV.

Boomers clinched it

It's no surprise that younger viewers were the first to jump to streaming. But another group has since made the leap as well: viewers over the age of 65.

Older viewers watch a lot of television, more than any other cohort—one-third of all viewing comes from this group. And they have been moving to streaming in droves in the last few years—particularly to platforms that are free and require no subscription. For instance, since 2023, viewers over 65 are the fastest-growing age group for watching YouTube off a television set. Their YouTube watch time last month grew 106 per cent from May 2023, Nielsen said. And the amount they're watching on YouTube is equal to the viewing totals of children under 11—another age group that watches a ton of TV, and YouTube in particular.