Nielsen offered more confirmation that streaming is a big beneficiary as much of the nation shelters-at-home during the coronavirus pandemic. The ratings agency said minutes spent on streaming content in the U.S. was up 50% for the week of March 16 from the year earlier.
Streaming minutes – 156 billion – were up about 36% from 115 billion the week of Feb. 24. The overall share of streaming on televsions among homes has increased at a steady clip nearly every week over the past four weeks, Nielsen said. It currently stands at 23% of all viewing being done on TVs as of the week of March 16 versus 14% the same week a year ago.
Netflix nabbed the biggest share of any streaming platform during the week with 29%, followed by YouTube at 20%, %, Hulu at 10% and Amazon at 9%.
Mark Wahlberg-starrer Spenser Confidential on Netflix was the most viewed content on streaming for the week, followed by The Office, also on Netflix.
What Nielsen calls the “other” – a bucket of all other streamers – has seen a significant rise, accouting for 31% of viewing. Disney+ is included in that bucket and has benefitted from kids and teens staying at home and Frozen 2 dropping early. The “other” bucket, which also includes CBS All Access, rose from 23% the same week the year before, while Netflix and Hulu both lost share. They ended the week with 36% and 15% of the market, respectively.