Fuelled by the American football season, ad supported TV viewing in the US during Q3 peaked in September, representing 74.7 per cent of overall TV viewership in that month, according to Nielsen’s Q3 2025 Ad Supported Gauge. Across the full quarter (06/30/2025 – 09/28/2025), ad supported TV accounted for 72.9 per cent of overall TV viewing, with streaming capturing 46.4 per ent of the ad-supported viewing total, followed by cable (27.2 per cent) and broadcast (26.4 per cent).

One noteworthy finding across this interval reports Nielsen was this: Similar to overall viewing, seasonality can impact the ad supported share of that total. For example, July marked one of the strongest months of the year for streaming consumption due to kids and teens being on summer vacation and a lighter month for ad supported viewing, as streaming offers a wider variety of ad-free options. September, meanwhile, is when the return of live sports – namely American football – helps broadcast climb back, increasing the overall share of ad supported viewing.

Those trends were reflected in the data. After peaking in July with 48 per cent of the overall ad supported pie, streaming lost 3.6 share points, representing 44.4 per cent during the September interval, while broadcast gained 4.4 share points, jumping to 29.1 per cent thanks to a strong sports slate. Cable remained fairly consistent over this period.

Another interesting take is when looking at adults 18 and over, this pushes the ad supported share to over three-quarters of television (75.1 per cent) and drops streaming back four share points to 42.4 per cent. These four share points are equally distributed between broadcast and cable, bumping each up by two to 28.4 per cent and 29.2 per cent, respectively.

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Categories: Advertising, Articles, Broadcast, Consumer Behaviour, Content, OTT, Research

Tags: advertising, NFL, nielsen, usa