Streaming Consumption Up Nearly 100 Percent Year Over Year In Key Demo, Says Nielsen

Is your viewership up nearly 100%? You must be streaming.

Nielsen’s look at the effect of coronavirus stay-at-home orders on Americans’ consumption of streaming content has produced some eye-popping numbers.

From the fourth full week of March in 2019 (starting 3/25) through the fourth full week of March in 2020 (starting 3/23), “streaming among people 25-54 has increased almost 100%,” according to Nielsen.

The dates are significant, because by March 23 of this year, nine states had issued a stay-at-home order, while another 12 had such orders issued in at least part of the state. That, per a New York Times analysis.

So as Americans sequestered themselves, there was an explosion in the consumption of streaming content.

States and cities that were among the first wave enacting stay-at-home orders, such as New York, Illinois, Washington and California, saw some of the biggest increases.

Entertainment content was a key driver, along with content related to fitness and wellness, gaming live streams and cooking, according to Nielsen.

It’s important to note that, even before COVID-19, per Nielsen, “organic streaming had been growing over the past few months,” driven in part by the advent of streaming services such as Disney+.

But this wasn’t just 12 months of sequential growth.

Nielsen notes that streaming of non-linear content increased “across all age groups in Nielsen’s 56 largest metered markets during March 2020.”

With schools closed, younger demographics showed the largest growth, “with more than 60% increases between the weeks of March 2 and March 23 across all markets,” according to the data.

Time-wise the biggest jump in streaming consumption came in the early afternoon.

Normally, most adults are at work during these hours, but with the stay-at-home orders, Nielsen measured “more than 50% increases in streaming from 1pm-4pm across markets between the weeks of March 2, 2020 and March 23, 2020.”

Moreover, those hours were up over 100% from the same week a year ago.

Data for the weeks since March 23 of this year has not been released yet, but with the number of states issuing stay-at-home orders increasing from 9 to 30 by March 30, those stats will no doubt be similarly impressive.