Movies, TV Shows Available on Streaming Jumped 39% in Two Years

Overwhelmed by the choices of movies and TV shows to watch online? There’s a reason why.

Netflix and Disney are among 167 streaming providers, up from 118 two years ago. (Pixabay)

Overwhelmed by the choices of movies and TV shows to watch online? There's a reason why.

The number of titles on streaming services jumped 39% over the past two years to 2.35 million, according to a report released Monday by market researcher Nielsen. Add in traditional broadcast and cable channels and the number of individual viewing options climbed to 2.7 million. The figures reflect movies and shows available in the US, Canada, the UK, Mexico and Germany.

Netflix and Disney are among 167 streaming providers, up from 118 two years ago. The average time it takes someone to find something to watch has risen to more than 10 minutes from a little over seven minutes in 2019, Nielsen said.

The company credits the growth in recent years in part to the expansion of free, ad-supported streaming services such as Paramount Global's Pluto and Fox Corp.'s Tubi. NBCUniversal has announced plans to launch dedicated channels for specific programs like Saturday Night Live and Top Chef, the report notes.

In the US in May, 60% of all time spent on streaming was for shows that originally aired on regular TV.