YouTube marks a year at the top of the US streaming pile

Source: YouTube

YouTube marked its 12th consecutive month as the top streaming service in the US in January, according to audience research outfit Nielsen.

Nielsen’s The Gauge report for the US for January showed that YouTube had an 8.6% share of the overall audience, making it the leader among streamers.

Streaming overall accounted for 36% of viewing, with Netflix the number two player within that streaming total, accounting for a 7.9% share. Netflix gained 0.2 share points on the month.

Source: Nielsen

Prime Video with 2.8% and Hulu with 2.7% were the number three and four players respectively, with Disney+ trailing with 1.9%.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock saw a a 29% spike in usage, driven by NFL playoff coverage, to account for a record 1.6% share of TV.

The Roku Channel saw a 10% increase, taking its share to 1.1%.

Cable meanwhile accounted for 27.9% of viewing, followed by broadcast with 24.2%.

Streaming’s overall share, which excludes linear streaming services provided by vMVPDs and streaming apps from pay TV operators, has dipped from a high last July, when it accounted for 38.7% of viewing.

Increased overall TV viewership in January was driven by a spell of cold weather and by sports, notably by the NFL American football playoffs. Overall viewing was up by 3.7%, while cable TV was up 2.7%