Data: 6bn US viewing minutes for Young Sheldon in May
June 19, 2024
Nielsen’s May 2024 report of The Gauge revealed a potent Convergent TV win for Young Sheldon, with 6 billion viewing minutes for the month across broadcast, cable and streaming in the US.
After seven seasons on CBS, Young Sheldon concluded its strong run in a series finale which drew 11.74 million viewers (L+7). The sitcom consistently garners considerable viewership in syndication as well, which includes runs on cable networks such as TBS and Nick-At-Nite, and broad streaming availability on Paramount+, Netflix and Max. The 6 billion viewing minutes captured by Young Sheldon in May were split almost exactly in half between traditional linear channels and streaming platforms.
Additionally, May marked record highs for streaming’s share of TV usage, as the category accounted for 38.8 per cent of TV, and for streaming platforms Tubi with 1.8 per cent of TV usage and The Roku Channel with 1.5 per cent.
Typical for this time of year, overall TV usage was down just slightly on a monthly basis (-2.4 per cent), but a year-over-year comparison showed a slight increase in time spent watching TV in May (+1.4 per cent). Across viewing categories, streaming exhibited the most growth, adding 0.4 pt to its share of TV usage to record a new high watermark of 38.8 per cent. Streaming usage climbed 8 per cent compared with May 2023, and the category has added 2.4 share points to its share of TV.
FAST platforms (Tubi, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV) continued their momentum and each gained 0.1 pt in May, culminating in a combined 4.1 per cent share of TV for the month. In addition to hitting platform-high shares, Tubi and The Roku Channel also showed significant year-over-year growth with Tubi usage up 43 per cent and The Roku Channel up 36 per cent compared with May 2023.
YouTube continued its run as the top streaming platform and tied its previous platform-best share of 9.7 per cent, which it set in March 2024. Behind YouTube was Netflix, which maintained a 7.6 per cent share of TV and owned May’s most watched streaming title: Bridgerton. Netflix released the first four episodes of Bridgerton’s third season on May 16th, and by month’s end the iconic Netflix original captured over 5.5 billion viewing minutes.
Broadcast viewing was elevated by finale season and in total the category added 0.1 pt. to account for 22.3 per cent of TV in May. Replicating its 2023 success, the Kentucky Derby on NBC repeated as the top broadcast telecast in May with 16 million viewers – over 1 million more than a year ago. Following two consecutive months of growth, cable viewing dipped 0.9 pt. to 28.2 per cent of overall TV usage. Despite NBA playoff games accounting for the top six cable telecasts in May, the conclusion of the NCAA basketball tournament combined with fewer televised sporting events in general contributed to a larger drop in cable viewing across the US.