YouTube has toppled both Disney, Netflix, and well, everybody else in the ratings game. Nielsen just released their ratings for July 2024 and YouTube has taken the lead in viewers, getting 10.4% of “all TV usage” for that month. Disney, which still leads for the first seven months of 2024, fell by one percentage point to second place, with 9.9%. YouTube’s crown-grab now makes it the first ever streaming service to do so. Children ages 2-17 accounted for almost 30% of viewers, which makes sense since many were home for summer break. Another factor could be the lack of new network programming, which made viewers seek out alternative sources for entertainment. Whatever reason(s) it was, YouTube came for the Mouse and it did not miss.
TV by the numbers: According to Nielsen’s latest calculations, YouTube accounted for 10.4 percent of all TV usage in July 2024. It surpassed reigning champion Disney, which fell from 10.8 percent in June 2024 to 9.9 percent in July. With the door open, YouTube became the first streaming service ever to finish first; believe it or not, Netflix still has a long way to go to catch up. Disney still leads 2024 overall with 11 percent of total TV viewing through seven recorded months.
Kids and their screens: For an explanation, look no further than your own child’s tablet. With school out for the summer, nearly 30 percent of July’s YouTube viewership came from kids aged 2 to 17. The same group accounted for 13 percent of TV viewership overall. Fellow parents, we all need to chill on screen time.
No new studio programming: School isn’t the only thing out of session for the summer months. With exceptions (especially in the reality TV space), studio programming tends to take a vacation in July and August. Why watch “Abbott Elementary” reruns when Blippi is still posting fresh content? (Bad example: we still highly recommend the repeats in this case.)
The Olympics didn’t count: Another thing to note is that Nielsen’s “July” is not all of July. Since the ratings-currency company calculates viewership on a weekly — not monthly — basis, its “July” captured July 1 to 28, 2024 and not the 29th, 30th, and 31st. That may sound nitpick-y to you, but it definitely does not to the third-place media company NBCUniversal. Nielsen’s July counted only three days of NBCU’s Paris Olympics, which dominated the final six days of real July. The events of July 29 to 31 will not be realized until Nielsen’s August report; we may crown yet another new champion then. With just three days of Paris Olympics coverage counted toward July, NBCUniversal’s share of TV usage jumped an entire percentage point from June. “TV usage” here includes streaming, which accounted for 41.4 percent of all TV viewing in the month, according to earlier Nielsen data.
Netflix just missed the podium but still beat out the RNC on Fox: Netflix (an 8.4 percent share) finished fourth in July, when the race for fifth was particularly tight. In unrounded data provided to IndieWire by Nielsen, Fox (7.44 percent) edged Paramount (7.36 percent) to make the top 5. The Fox News Channel-friendly Republican National Convention (July 15-18) can be thanked for that.
While I wasn’t expecting this news, I absolutely believe it, for all of those reasons like summer break, and then some. While my kids love some Disney shows like Bluey, we set up YouTube Kids last month, which only lets them do age-appropriate shows. They now prefer the larger selection it provides, like being able to watch Minecraft or Roblox videos or videos where they learn about how cars or weather events work. Even though their screen time is limited during the school week, YouTube Kids will likely be their first choice when they are allowed to watch it.
I think the biggest reason why YouTube pulled ahead last month, though, is because basic YouTube is still free while Disney+ and the rest of the streamers are continuing to raise subscription prices. We did a free trial of YouTubeTV and it was nice to have live TV options again for a little while. And even though Disney may take back the #1 spot once their new season of programming starts, I expect that YouTube stays competitive for a while. I know a lot of people in my age group that prefer to watch what content creators are putting out on YouTube over network TV shows. Plus, you know, it’s free.
photos are screenshots from YouTube/Miss Rachel, Unspeakable, Milo and Chip, Ryan’s World, DanTDM
What are they counting as a view? If I watch a 5 minute video on YouTube, does that count? OR are they just counting total minutes – so 6 people watching a 5 minute video on YT is the same as one person watching a 30 minute video?
I do think its interesting how they seem to differentiate between Disney and Disney Plus – so this isn’t just about Disney Plus being a subscription service – “YouTube became the first streaming service ever to finish first” but then the article talks about Disney being #1 for the first part of the year. So just the Disney channel? Or the channel and Disney Plus combined?
My kids watch way too much youtube and I hate it, I can’t figure out how to stop it. I’ve blocked the youtube apps from their devices. I’ve blocked youtube.com. I’ve blocked m.youtube.com. And those measures apparently mean nothing because they’re on YouTube so much. (I don’t mind if they watch some here and there but I hate how fast it goes from “here’s a minecraft video” to “heres something you shouldnt be watching.” )
I hate YouTube. If I have something very specific to watch, I’ll go there, but I hate the way it takes over your computer and starts shoving crap down your throat that it claims to know you’d be interested in. The “search” function on YouTube seems to be basically worthless. Let’s not even talk about all the stuff you watch there to find out how to do something, like charge the battery on your tractor, or replace a GFCI outlet because you wind up watching way more than you intended just to get through all the inane blah, blah, blah by people who think they’re content creators, or qualified to advise you. Then you have to watch multiples of the “instructional” type videos to balance out all the contradictory advice. And don’t even get me started on the ratio between advertising and desired ‘content’ on YouTube because it’s way, way worse than prime time commercial TV.
Tiktok is way better for “how to videos”. It has good search function, videos are short and concise, with no fluff and there are no ads on them.
I’m same as you, Youtube is just too cluttered for me
@Denise Thanks for the advice. I have been avoiding YouTube, but I do use those how to videos. YouTube annoys me by letting so much hate material stay.
Yes, thanks for recommending Tik Tok for how-to videos Denise! Recently I’ve only been watching Allan Lichtman (and his son Sam) on Youtube. I’m about ready to ‘Join’ them since his presidential prediction is done, and I’d like to get more insight into how to get more people supporting the repeal of the Second Amendment
Makes sense to me. I don’t have Disney or Netflix, but I sure watch stuff on YouTube.
My boyfriend watches more YouTube than anything else. From old movies and shows to local fishing videos.
So I decided to pay to take the ads out.
It’s a painful $30 a month.
But since streaming became a thing, I cannot abide commercials.
We don’t do YouTube tv, just regular YouTube.
I assume paying for “premium” YouTube comes with other privileges, but I have no idea what they are.
If I’m in YouTube I’m probably watching an eras concert live stream
I was watching Rings of Power yesterday on Amazon and I experienced my first commercials in the middle of a show on Prime and I almost wept, lol.
The amazon ads are just back to network practices: 40 mins of program 20 mins of advertisement. No longer interested in them.
hi, @ariel-that 30 dollars a month seems really high. i pay 14 for an individual subscription, but from what i saw online a family subscription (up to 5 people) is 23. if you and your boyfriend watch on the same id, i don’t know why you couldn’t use an individual subscription? i guess it’s family if you each want your own logins (happily single, so i’m not sure how that works :)). but my individual plan has no limit on login devices. one of the big bonuses to me that i use youtube music (formerly google play). that was the only reason i got youtube premium to begin with. but i love no commercials. i love a lot of the content i get recommended to me. i have my algorithm locked down pretty tight, and i never really get recommended or shown anything i don’t want to see.
YouTube has more bot viewers than other streamers to increase counts for some channels. Did anybody estimate that usage?
That’s a good point to consider.
I can believe this given I find myself watching YouTube more than I watch Netflix and Disney+.
I watch Netflix from time to time, but I am constantly on YouTube. And yes, I can believe that YouTube has more views because of its format. For the most part, it’s free. I don’t mind the commercials. There is a skip function on a few of them. There are long videos and, for those with short attention spans, short videos. The only drawback is that there’s a ton of equally bad and good content on YouTube, but there is more so that variety of content that’s not found on the other platforms. The other platforms offer series and programs that, at least for me, I don’t have a particular interest or patience to sit through.
Not only is YouTube kids free, it has no commercials. My kid watches YouTube almost exclusively when I let him watch TV.
Elmo and Ms Rachel form the majority of my TV watching experiences because of Youtube Kids. There’s a lot of shitty “family youtubers” that I try to block as much as possible. I’ve seen so much Elmo that I confuse the sesame street versions of popular songs with the radio version. Macklemore’s Thriftshop came on the radio and I’m singing “I’m gonna pop some trash, Ive got seven bags in my trashcan” (he’s hanging with Oscar the Grouch)
When I was staying in Georgia with my sister who didn’t have top tier Xfinity…I ended up becoming a PRIME YouTube watcher & have YouTube premium which is $14.00 a month…I ❤️ my favorite content creators & go to sleep to the ASMR spa services content…I get to see folks from all over the 🌎 doing things I can no longer do due to disability…and it’s been helpful to me as I have to relocate in parts of my state that I’ve never been too but you can BET that someone has posted content about the area and the TREASURE TROVE of old movies & TV shows is priceless ❣️
This is actually concerning to me because of how awful and predatory the YT algorithm is. So much content even on YT Kids is just clickbait and often pretty questionable. It’s not Sesame Street where the shows are written with consulting child educators and psychologists.
My nephews and nieces are addicted to YT Kids and they often get fed stuff like obnoxious prank videos and vlogger channels that makes me wonder if those kids are being exploited by their parents.
If I watch one John Oliver video I will get weeks of increasingly right wing content pushed onto me. If I subscribe to an ambience music channel I immediately get conspiracy theory content and pro-Russia stuff.
The fact that Disney+, Netflix, etc are all playing pricing games to shoot themselves in the foot in the long term for short term gains is what will keep driving ppl to free content on YT and social media, platforms with algorithms designed to keep you addicted.
I’m seeing a couple comments from parents that let their kids watch Youtube Kids, and I really hope you’re not leaving them unsupervised. If you don’t know about it already, look up Elsagate. Youtube is doing nothing to stop that kind of content from making it to YT Kids.
Never leave your kids unsupervised when using the internet. Never.
Elsagate? OMG! “For video streaming platforms like YouTube, children are one of the most lucrative advertising demographics. They tend to view advertisements in their complete runtime, never complain about content quality, and patronize content for multiple hours a day.”
(https://southwestshadow.com/opinion/columnists/the-history-and-remergence-of-elsagate/)
No wonder my daughter freaks out about her 6-mo old watching the flashing lights and bright colors on the screen (usually on YT).
Free w/ ads streaming is the future.
I read somewhere that the most profitable streaming service is Tubi, and I can believe it. I watch A24 movies in free streaming services like Xumo Play. I watched Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes on Filmrise. I watched AMC’s Interview with the Vampire on Hoopla.
Fully recommend getting on the free w/ ads bandwagon and checking out streaming apps like Kanopy (which works with your local library).
If you’re going to pay for a premium streaming service, pay for something like Criterion or Mubi.
Tubi extracts way too much value out of my hide without my doing much of anything different. Have no interest in shuttling more US$$$ to Faux News owners, who will just use it to promote right wing talking points on multiple channels, resulting in dangerous people attacking the US Capitol. No thank you.
it’s not freeeeee…
I am on YouTube 90% of the time. I love the Chinese dramas. I have watched one in particular, Love like the Galaxy for 3 months. So yes to YouTube. Besides I was amazed you have to pay extra besides the annual fee to see an Amazon show without commercials. Bezos gave his girlfriend a huge rock, it still doesn’t mean he should take our every nickel.