The Roku Channel is the latest free streamer to get enough viewer attention to make Nielsen’s monthly platform rankings.
The streaming device maker’s programming outlet joins fellow FAST services Tubi and Pluto TV in Nielsen’s Gauge snapshot for May. The Roku Channel gathered 1.1 percent of all TV use for the month, tying NBCUniversal’s Peacock in rankings of individual streaming services. Tubi had 1.3 percent of TV use in May and Pluto TV, 0.9 percent.
Streaming as a whole commanded the biggest share of TV viewing time for the seventh consecutive month, coming in at 36.4 percent of usage, vs. 34 percent in April. Some of that growth is due to a change in the way Nielsen attributes streaming via cable set-top boxes. Set-top box streaming previously fell all under the “other TV use” category, but starting in May programs identified as streaming originals are attributed to the streaming category, as well as the individual platform.
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Cable (31.1 percent of TV use) and broadcast networks (22.8 percent) each declined by a few tenths of a point from April. Overall TV use across all platforms fell by 4.4 percent from the previous month, a fairly typical pattern for late spring.
Nielsen’s Gauge rankings for May 2023 are below.
Platforms
Streaming: 36.4 percent of TV use
Cable: 31.1 percent
Broadcast: 22.8 percent
Other: 9.7
Streaming Services
YouTube: 8.5 percent
Netflix: 7.9 percent
Hulu: 3.7 percent
Prime Video: 3.1 percent
Disney+: 1.8 percent
Tubi: 1.3 percent
HBO Max/Max: 1.2 percent
Peacock: 1.1 percent
Roku Channel: 1.1 percent
Pluto TV: 0.9 percent
