The conclusion of the NFL season led to an expected decline in TV usage, particularly broadcast, for the month of February. Despite the typical seasonal decline in visual performance, New Amsterdam And The last of us has helped streaming stay strong.
According to Nielsen’s monthly report, The Gauge, average television viewership overall fell by 5.1%, led by a 9.2% decline in television viewership. Watching sports broadcasts took the brunt, registering a 65 percent month-on-month success.
Cable was down 5.7%, while streaming weathered the storm with a mere 1% drop. The overall drop from January to February is fairly typical and has remained consistent with last year’s 5.7% drop observed over the same period.
While overall streaming usage was down, it increased its share of total TV usage, accounting for 34.3% of all viewers for the month. That’s a record high for the digital format, which Nielsen says has been fueled by the popularity of shows including New Amsterdam And The last of us.
New Amsterdam was the most-watched streaming program of the month, earning 4.6 billion minutes of viewing time on Netflix and Peacock. Seasons 3 and 4 began streaming on Netflix in early February, so it makes sense for viewers to catch up on what they missed.
HBO’s The last of us was the second most watched program of the month with 4.4 billion minutes of watch time on HBO Max. That’s pretty impressive considering it doesn’t account for viewing on HBO’s linear channel. According to HBO, the first six episodes average more than 30 million viewers.
While Netflix still dominates the other streaming services in terms of its overall share of streaming usage, viewing on the platform actually fell by 6.7% in February. That’s despite the debut of the first five episodes of You Season 4, which saw the series put in a pretty strong showing with 4.2 billion views over the month.
See more in the graphic below.