Study: Less linear TV, more hyperdistribution
October 15, 2025
Pascale Paoli-Lebailly @ MIPCOM
In the first half of 2025, linear television continued to decrease while in the US, streaming overtook linear TV in May, as measured by Nielsen’s The Gauge study.
According to figures and analysis released by Glance (Médiamétrie) at MIPCOM, the rise of platforms such as YouTube and Netflix are continuing to impact on viewers’ consumption habits. At the same time, traditional broadcasters and platforms are entering multiple distribution agreements in order to attract new audiences.
Linear TV viewing time was only 2h06m per day in the US (-16 minutes per year), 2h07m in Canada (-13 minutes), 2h09m in the UK (-11 minutes) and as low as 2h00 in the Netherlands (-10 minutes). In other European countries, it rates higher, but has decreased by the same rate: it is 2h47m in France (-13 minutes over a year), 2h42m in Germany (-14 minutes), and 2h48m in Spain (-10 minutes).
In July , streaming accounted for 47 per cent of the viewing time in the US, where cable still accounted for 22 per cent and broadcast channels 18 per cent (or 40 per cent for the two cumulative linear broadcast modes).
The streaming domination is far from being the norm in all territories, as it represents only 35 per cent of the viewing time in the UK and just 10 per cent in Poland.
“The biggest winners are YouTube and Netflix, but with some differences according to the territories,” noted Frédéric Vaulpré, senior vice president of Glance. “Whereas Netflix claims a 9 per cent share of viewing time in the United Kingdom, USA, Australia (9 per cent) and a 5 per cent share in Brazil, it varies greatly for YouTube which represents only 8 per cent of the viewing time in Australia, 13 per cent in the United States, where it has doubled in three years, 16 per cent in the United Kingdom and 20 per cent in Brazil.”
Glance also highlights a difference in the behaviour of the largest streamers. In UK, the 25 per cent most intensive Netflix and YouTube users represent 65 per cent of the consumption of each platform. Glance notes that the biggest YouTube users are not intensive Netflix users, and vice versa.
One of the consequences of these changes is a move to hyperdistribution, illustrated by the fact that recent months, have seen an acceleration in agreements between traditional broadcasters and platforms, according to Vaulpré, who cites the partnerships between TF1 and Netflix, France Télévisions and Prime Video and, in the rest of Europe, between Disney+ and ITVX in the UK, ZDF Studios in Germany and Atresmedia in Spain.
“Hyperdistribution is everywhere. In the United States, it for instance starts from sports rights. The major audiovisual players accordingly exploit their premium sports rights on their linear channel, but also on their SVoD platform, or even in AVoD and on FAST channels. It is also sports rights that push players to join forces to offer bundles, such as the agreement between the new Fox One platform and ESPN,” Glance suggested.
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