Down 2%, but 26% higher than first week of the month

Total TV usage, driven higher as people stayed home from work and school to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, dipped 2% in the week of March 30, according to new figures from Nielsen.

The week’s usage was still up 26% from the first full week of March and the second highest over the last five weeks.

Live TV was down 2% from the previous week and the use of internet connected devices was down 2%.

Looking at local markets, TV usage in Austin, Texas, was up 24.9% in the week of March 30, compared to the week of March 9, the largest increase of any market in the country.

Other markets showing jumps of more than 20% were Salt Lake City, Baltimore, New York, Boston and Miami.

Streaming minutes also declined to 161.4 million minutes from 168.7 million the week before, according to Nielsen. They were up from the first week of March when 127.6 million minutes were streamed and 69.8 million minutes a year ago.

Netflix’s share grew to 33% from 32% the previous week, with YouTube’s share slipping to 19% from 21%. Hulu was steady at 12% and Amazon Prime fell to 7% from 8%.

All of the most viewed SVOD shows were on Netflix, led by The CW’s All American. Tiger King ranked ninth.