The popularity of live-streaming and content streaming continues to soar and numbers show that, for the first time ever in the United States, Live-streaming surpasses cable viewing, according to StockApps.
Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, and Youtube achieved record-high shares during the month of July, with Netflix taking the lion’s share as consumption jumped 8%, thanks to the success and popularity of Stranger Things. It is a big win for Netflix following their two-month stretch of losing subscribers.
According to the report, streaming accounted for 34.8% of TV screen time during July, while Cable and broadcast (also known as traditional linear TV) accounted for 34.4% and 21.6% of total viewing time, and Americans spent approximately 191 billion minutes per week streaming.
Streaming is now a big threat to television, and for the first time, is showing that the future is here.
“I think over the next 10 years, we’ll see a shift from linear TV to on-demand viewing.” says Reed Hastings, the co-founder of Netflix. Hastings believes traditional linear TV is “declining very rapidly,” and people are “moving away” from it, and the numbers continue to support that.
Cable television’s lack of sports is certainly a factor, as sports viewing fell by 34%, and overall viewership fell by 8.9% year over year. Furthermore, broadcast television had a 9.8% overall decline and a 41% decline in sports, which is sure to impact advertising revenue as well, especially with the rise of influencer marketing and Sports SEO providing more viable, and ROI driven options.
