Streaming gains in share of TV viewing in December, Nielsen reports

Streaming accounted for 47.5 percent of total television usage in December 2025, its highest monthly share to date, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge report. The figure surpasses the previous high of 38.7 percent reported in July 2025.

The increase was driven by a surge in holiday viewing. Christmas Day 2025 marked the highest single-day total for streaming, with more than 55 billion viewing minutes. That total broke the previous record set on Dec. 25, 2024, by 8 percent. Streaming represented 54 percent of total TV usage on Christmas Day, also a record.

Netflix and Prime Video combined for 22.5 percent of all TV usage on Dec. 25, boosted by a schedule that included multiple National Football League games and new episodes of “Stranger Things”.

December was the first time daily streaming accounted for more than 50 percent of total TV usage on two separate days, including Dec. 13, which reached 50.4 percent.

Several streaming platforms posted their best monthly shares. Netflix reached 9 percent of total TV viewing, with “Stranger Things” generating more than 15 billion viewing minutes to become the most-watched streaming title of the month.

Prime Video rose to 4.3 percent, supported by four Thursday Night Football broadcasts and new episodes of its original series “Fallout”. The Roku Channel increased to 3 percent, while Paramount Streaming reached 2.5 percent. Paramount’s growth was driven by 6.2 billion viewing minutes for the series “Landman” on Paramount+.

Traditional broadcast accounted for 21.4 percent of TV viewing in December, while cable made up 20.2 percent. FOX and CBS aired the most-watched broadcast programs, led by NFL matchups including Eagles vs. Bills on Dec. 28 and Steelers vs. Lions on Dec. 21.

Advertisement

CBS also delivered the top non-sports broadcast content. Both “Tracker” and “60 Minutes” drew more than 10 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s live-plus-seven-day metric.

Cable sports viewership increased 16 percent in December, reaching 9 percent of all cable viewing. The top five cable telecasts were NFL games, including four Monday Night Football matchups on ESPN and an NFL Network broadcast of the Texans vs. Chargers game on Dec. 27.

Nielsen’s December reporting period covered the five-week span from Dec. 1 through Dec. 28, in accordance with the broadcast calendar.