Americans watched more television via streaming services than they did through cable and broadcast networks in May, Nielsen said in a report Tuesday. It is the first time that has happened over a full month.

Nielsen began comparing streaming viewership with traditional network and cable television in 2021. At that time, even with streaming on a rapid ascent, the gap between the two was huge: Nearly two-thirds of all TV time was spent watching cable and broadcast, and just 26% was with streaming.

That lead has now collapsed.

It’s no surprise that younger viewers were the first to jump to streaming. But another group has since made the leap as well: viewers older than 65.

Older viewers watch a lot of television, more than any other cohort — one-third of all viewing comes from this group. And they have been moving to streaming in droves in the past few years — particularly to platforms that are free and require no subscription. For instance, since 2023, viewers over 65 are the fastest-growing age group for watching YouTube off a television set.

Their YouTube watch time last month grew 106% from May 2023, Nielsen said. And the amount they’re watching on YouTube is equal to the viewing totals of children younger than 11.

In May, Tubi, Roku and Pluto accounted for 5.7% of TV time for people of all ages, more than Disney+ and Hulu combined.

Cable TV viewing has fallen much more than network television over the past four years — 39% overall, Nielsen said. What has surprised industry analysts is just how much media companies have helped accelerate the decline.

Cable networks like USA, TBS and MTV were rich with original programming just a few years ago, but they air few scripted shows now. Media executives have rapidly reordered their budgets, steering investment toward their streaming services.

Compared with cable, broadcast television has been surprisingly resilient: a 20% drop over the past four years, or about half as much as cable’s.