Streaming viewership overtakes cable and broadcast for first time

(The Hill) -- For the first time ever, viewership on streaming platforms topped cable and broadcast channels combined last month, underscoring a growing trend across the media business in recent months.

Streaming platforms accounted for 44.8 percent of all viewership in May, according to new data from Nielsen Media Research, compared to 24.1 percent of viewers who watched cable and 20.1 percent who watched broadcast television.

"While many have expected this milestone to have occurred sooner, sporting events, news and new-season content have kept broadcast and cable TV surprisingly resilient," Nielsen senior vice president Brian Fuhrer said in a video on the company's monthly viewership report. "The trend, however, has been very consistent."

YouTube accounted for the largest share of audience of any streamer, notching more than 12 percent of total audience share, while Disney was the legacy media company that took the biggest audience haul on streaming, with 5 percent.

The new figures come as more large media conglomerates are facing major threats to their Wall Street valuations and bottom lines thanks to widespread cord-cutting and changing consumer habits.

At the same time, major tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Netflix have poured millions into sports and entertainment offerings, taking legacy media brands head-on for audience share and advertising dollars.

A recent report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found the proportion of consumers accessing news via social media and video networks in the United States (54 percent) is sharply up, overtaking both TV news (50 percent) and news websites/apps (48 percent) for the first time.