Streaming reached a historic milestone in the US in May as its share of total television usage outpaced the combined share of broadcast and cable for the first time ever, according to Nielsen’s monthly The Gauge report. Streaming represented 44.8 per cent of TV viewership in May 2025, its largest share of viewing to date, while broadcast (20.1 per cent) and cable (24.1 per cent) combined to represent 44.2 per cent of TV.

May also also marked four years since the launch of The Gauge. When comparing TV usage in May 2021 and May 2025, Nielsen says it’s clear that streaming has been the dominant viewing format with a usage increase of 71 per cent. And while broadcast and cable viewing have declined (down 21 per cent and 39 per cent, respectively, compared with May 2021), traditional TV has shown surprising resilience.

“It’s fitting that this inflection point coincides with the four year anniversary of Nielsen’s The Gauge, which has become the gold standard for streaming TV measurement,” said Karthik Rao, Nielsen CEO. “It’s also a credit to media companies, who have deftly adapted their programming strategies to meet their viewers where they are watching TV – whether it’s on streaming or linear platforms.”

Along with the 71 per cent increase in streaming usage, six additional streaming services are now reported in the list of platforms that exceed a full share point of TV usage. The original list included Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Prime Video and Disney+, and has expanded to 11 platforms in May 2025.

Among subscription services, Netflix has gone wire-to-wire as the leading SVoD provider in total TV usage for four straight years. Netflix’s viewership has climbed 27 per cent since May 2021, and the streamer owned the biggest day in streaming history, thanks to two exclusive NFL games it live streamed on Christmas Day 2024. Many programmes – and by extension, other distributors – have also benefited from the SVoD giant through ‘The Netflix Effect’, where licensed content becomes an even bigger hit when distributed on the platform. Exemplified by titles such as Suits (Netflix / Peacock) and Young Sheldon (Netflix / Max), this month’s top streaming title, You (pictured), with 4 billion minutes, was one of the first examples of the Netflix Effect in 2018.

Free services have been a major driver of streaming’s overall success. Most notably, YouTube Main (excluding YouTube TV) has exhibited steady, significant growth and is up over 120 per cent since 2021. YouTube represented 12.5 per cent of all television viewing in May, its fourth consecutive monthly share increase and the highest share of TV for any streamer to date. Additionally, FAST services have become increasingly popular, and three have reached the reportable threshold in The Gauge. PlutoTV, Roku Channel and Tubi combined for 5.7 per cent of total TV viewing in May, which is larger than any individual broadcast network this interval.

While the milestone of streaming exceeding traditional TV viewership is almost certainly not permanent, it presumably will be in the near future says Nielsen. This trend could continue into the summer months, but the balance will likely shift back – at least temporarily – as NFL kicks off and a new broadcast season returns.

Note: The May 2025 interval included dates 04/28/2025 through 05/25/2025.

Read Nick Snow’s Stream, Stream, Stream blog.

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Tags: gauge, Hulu, netflix, NFL, nielsen