March TV Viewing: YouTube And Netflix Post More Gains, Streaming Up 12%

• by Wayne Friedman , 4 hours ago

YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu posted viewing gains in March versus February contributing to streaming's continuing virtual dominance -- up 12% in persons age 18 plus viewing year-over-year, according to Nielsen.

YouTube posted another gain (up 0.4 point from February) to a leading 9.7% best share of a platform TV-video.

Netflix was right behind with an 8.1% share, up 0.3 point -- helped by three original shows “Love is Blind”, “The Gentleman”, and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

Hulu added 0.2 of a point, now at 3.0% TV share.

As a comparison to streaming’s 12% year-over-year rise (to a 38.5% share), cable was down 10% (28.3% share) and broadcast lost 4% (22.5%).

Traditional TV viewing share (broadcast and cable) is now at a 50.8% share, down from a 54.3% share year ago.

For all TV streaming, overall usage declined 3% in March versus February -- a typical seasonal monthly trend.. In 2023 March sank 2%; in 2022, it was down 4.6%. 

Despite continuing, steady declines over recent periods, cable managed to post a 0.7 point gain in March versus February getting to its 28.3% share. 

Much of this was due to big gains due to the NCAA March Madness tournament -- featuring big results from its women’s college basketball competition, including those games featuring the top college basketball scorer of all time, Caitlin Clark of Iowa.