Cable vs. Streaming: Which Won in the July 2022 Viewership Ratings?

Streaming subscription services have become the new way to watch television. It’s no surprise that these subscription services have dominated and even dethroned cable television as to how we watch TV. In July 2022, Americans had spent more time watching shows on streaming than on cable. Read more about the cable vs streaming war here.

Cable vs Streaming: Nielsen Insights

Nielsen has shared their new insights on viewership. Streaming reigned supreme in July of 2022 at 34.8% viewership. But, cable came in a close second at 34.4%. The audience measurement company has mentioned this was the first ever instance that streaming surpassed cable. But this shouldn’t be a surprising metric considering the number of people watching streaming had risen to 23% a year ago. Plus, 9% more viewers had decided to end ties with cable.

Another thing to note is the billions of minutes that viewers have watched. They reported that viewers had watched a whopping 190.9 billion minutes of streaming. This broke the previous record from April 2020, wherein viewers had watched 169.9 billion minutes.

During Netflix Q2’s results release, Reed Hastings, Netflix Co-Chief Executive, said that more people have been more interested in streaming, and it could be the end of cable in the next five or ten years.

Current Trends

Nielsen’s numbers are an indicator that streaming services are putting in effort and ensuring quality in creating content. Two major streaming services have suffered because of this, Peacock and HBO Max, and they have lost a lot of subscribers in Q2 2022. That said, some subscribers tend to jump ship due to the availability of content per streaming service.

Although Disney+ has more subscribers than Netflix, Netflix was the winner in the streaming wars in July due to the popularity of Stranger Things. Even so, Disney+, Hulu, and Amazon had broken viewership records in July as well. Plus, considering it was July, more children were streaming their favorite shows or watching on YouTube.

John Hodulik, UBS Group media and telecom analyst, explained in this cable vs streaming war that streaming allows more flexibility in watching shows or movies. And that cable TV’s attractive offering is sports. And that’s the case when the summer break ends, and people will tune in to cable for their favorite sports. However, sports are also making their mark on streaming services. Apple, Paramount, Amazon, and Peacock are those with sports-related broadcasts.

Streaming Services and Costs

Netflix has been recently making headlines that it has lost subscribers and laid off employees. And for the company to continue earning revenue despite losses, the streaming giant is planning to introduce ads on Netflix.

It’s not only Netflix thinking about revenue. But for them, they want to balance revenue and quality content. Warner Bros. Discovery had announced that they were no longer pushing through with Batgirl. They believe in pulling the plug on the much-anticipated movie due to content quality.

Like Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery is planning on introducing ad-supported subscription tiers.

Current Subscription Services

Subscription services have dominated the digital sphere. Here are the top ten streaming services:

• Disney+
• Netflix
• Hulu
• Amazon
• HBO Max
• Sling TV
• Peacock
• Paramount Plus
• Apple TV
• YouTube TV