Traditional TV falls behind as streaming surpasses broadcast and cable, Nielsen reports

Streaming viewership surpassed the combined audience of broadcast and cable television for the first time in May 2025, according to Nielsen’s latest edition of The Gauge.

Streaming accounted for 44.8 percent of total television usage, compared with 24.1 percent for cable and 20.1 percent for broadcast, for a combined 44.2 percent. The May reporting period included data from April 28 through May 25.

The milestone coincides with the four-year anniversary of The Gauge, Nielsen’s monthly snapshot of broadcast, cable and streaming consumption via television screens. Since the report’s debut in May 2021, streaming usage has increased 71 percent. Over the same period, broadcast and cable viewership declined 21 percent and 39 percent, respectively.

Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao credited the shift to media companies’ adaptation to evolving viewer behavior. “It’s fitting that this inflection point coincides with the four year anniversary of Nielsen’s The Gauge,” Rao said in a statement.

Since 2021, the number of individual streaming platforms surpassing a 1 percent share of total TV usage has grown from five to 11. Netflix remains the most-used subscription service and has held the top position for four consecutive years. Its usage increased 27 percent since May 2021. A record viewing day was recorded during its exclusive streaming of two NFL games on Christmas Day 2024.

YouTube, excluding YouTube TV, represented 12.5 percent of all TV viewing in May, the highest monthly share by a single platform to date. The platform has grown more than 120 percent since 2021 and marked its fourth consecutive month of share growth.

Free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services also contributed to the shift. PlutoTV, Roku Channel and Tubi combined for 5.7 percent of TV usage, exceeding the share of any single broadcast network during the period.

The transformation of traditional media companies into streaming-first operations has also influenced the trend. Services such as Hulu, Paramount+ and Peacock have expanded distribution to reach digital-native audiences and hosted simulcasts of major events like Super Bowl LIX and the 2024 Summer Olympics.

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Most subscription platforms now include ad-supported tiers, offering advertisers broader access to streaming audiences. Nielsen noted that while streaming dominance may fluctuate with seasonal programming, the trend toward increased digital viewing appears consistent.

Despite these advances, the streaming sector lacks consistent data transparency. Basic metrics such as what constitutes a single viewer remain undefined across many platforms. 

The Gauge was expanded in April 2024 to include The Media Distributor Gauge, tracking viewership by content distributor. Nielsen uses a broadcast calendar, with measurement weeks running Monday through Sunday.