April TV viewership sees streaming rise, cable and broadcast buoyed by sports events

Streaming accounted for 44.3 percent of television usage in April, according to Nielsen’s monthly The Gauge report released May 20. This marks the third consecutive monthly high for streaming, increasing 0.5 percentage points from March and 1.7 points since January.

Compared to April 2024, streaming usage rose 15 percent and gained 5.9 share points. In contrast, broadcast declined 7 percent and lost 1.4 share points, while cable fell 16 percent and shed 4.6 share points.

Multichannel and multiplatform distribution strategies contributed to the growth in streaming viewership. ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” led streaming titles in April with 3.9 billion minutes viewed across Hulu and Netflix. New episodes from season 21 streamed exclusively on Hulu, accounting for 10 percent of the title’s viewership, though the season comprises just 3 percent of the available episodes. Netflix contributed about 60 percent of the total streaming time for the program.

“The White Lotus” on Max was the second most-watched title, recording 3.7 billion viewing minutes. Warner Bros. Discovery maintained a 1.5 percent share of total TV through continued interest in the series.

YouTube reached a new platform high for the third month in a row, securing 12.4 percent of total TV viewing time, up 0.4 points from March and 2.8 points from April 2024. The Roku Channel grew 0.2 points to reach 2.4 percent, with a 67 percent year-over-year increase. Since November, when Roku began offering access to additional streaming platforms including Max, viewership has increased 21 percent.

Broadcast television usage represented 20.8 percent of total TV viewing in April, a 0.3 point increase from the previous month. Dramas accounted for 30 percent of broadcast viewing, followed by news at 14 percent. CBS drew 18.3 million viewers for the men’s NCAA basketball championship, up from 7.5 million in 2024 when it aired on TBS. The Masters final round, also on CBS, saw a 36 percent increase in viewership year over year, reaching 13 million viewers.

Cable TV usage rose to 24.5 percent in April, an increase of 0.5 points from March. ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft averaged 6.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched cable telecast of the month. “The Five” on FOX News Channel filled the next nine spots among top cable telecasts. NBA playoff games on ESPN and TNT averaged 3.1 million and 2.8 million viewers, respectively.

The Gauge report covers the period from March 31 through April 28, following the broadcast calendar with Monday through Sunday measurement weeks.

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