Although the Olympic Games did not begin until the end of July, their impact on television audiences in the United States was already noticeable after just a few days.
According to Nielsen, television usage rose about 2.3 percent in July compared to June. That’s a rarity for this month, as usage typically drops as broadcast and cable TV slow down.
This year, however, that trend reversed for the Olympics — even though Nielsen’s monthly gauge snapshot included only three days of coverage from Paris (the measurement covers July 1-28). Broadcast networks had a 20.3 percent share of TV usage that month, up from an all-time low of 20 percent in July 2023 — and the week the Olympics began, that share rose to 22 percent.
Peacock usage rose 33 percent month-over-month as the Olympics streaming hub recorded 4.5 billion minutes of viewers on the opening weekend of the games alone. The NBCUniversal streamer had total TV usage of 1.5 percent in July, compared to 1.2 percent in June, marking its second-best result ever after January, when it broadcast an exclusive NFL playoff game.
The month was another huge success for streaming platforms overall, as they achieved a record share of TV usage for the second year in a row. Streamers accounted for 41.4 percent of total TV usage, up from 40.3 percent in June. YouTube was also the first streaming platform to capture more than 10 percent of total TV usage, at 10.4 percent. July saw four of the top 10 single days for streaming since Nielsen began tracking streaming usage in 2020.
Disney+ also achieved its best viewer share in July, with 2.1 percent of total TV usage (not least thanks to 4.3 billion minutes of viewing time for Bluish), as did the Roku Channel (1.6 percent). Amazon’s Prime Video (3.4 percent of total TV usage) recorded its best result in eight months.
Cable ratings were roughly on par with June, but its share of TV viewing fell half a percentage point due to the rise in streaming. News viewing increased 23 percent from June, driven by coverage of the assassination of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and the Republican National Convention. Fox News was represented by 24 of the 25 most watched cable shows.
The Nielsen Gauge numbers for July 2024 can be found below.
Platforms
Streaming: 41.4 percent of total TV usage
Cable: 26.7 percent
Broadcasting: 20.3 percent
Others: 11.6 percent
Streaming services
YouTube: 10.4 percent
Netflix: 8.4 percent
Prime Video: 3.4 percent
Hulu: 2.7 percent
Disney+: 2.1 percent
Tubi: 2.1 percent
Roku Channel: 1.6 percent
Peacock: 1.5 percent
Max: 1.4 percent
Paramount+: 1.1 percent
Pluto TV: 0.7 percent
All others: 6 percent
