February was a big month for live sports with the combination of Super Bowl LVI and the Olympics both hitting the scene. While overall streaming was down as is usual for February, Peacock saw record viewership highs thanks to streaming live coverage of both major events. According to Nielsen, Peacock usage peaked during the Super Bowl and remained strong throughout the duration of the Winter Olympics.
However, overall streaming consumption was down 5.7% from January, below the 5% average over the past five years. It was still higher than broadcast which clocked 26%, while cable was only -.2% from January thanks to the live sports lineup.
Netflix was the highest viewed streamer for the month with 6.4%, followed by YouTube (5.7%) and Hulu (3.0%). “Other Streaming” which accounts for things like gaming was actually up +.1% from the previous month.