According to the latest Nielsen report, traditional TV just can’t hold on to what it once had.
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Traditional TV won out the first month of the year, but now things are shifting back into the realm of streaming. Broadcast TV last 1.3% of its viewership to drop to 21.2%.
We’re not sure what super juice YouTube took in February, but it jumped from 10.8% of television viewing to a massive 11.6%. Meanwhile, Netflix, the king of the paid subscription services, dipped from 8.6% to 8.2%.
Disney numbers now contain all of Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN which makes it more difficult to measure growth for the moment, but it had a strong month and grew from 4.7% to 4.8%..
Overall, all of streaming grew from 42.6% to 43.3%, topping its start of the year numbers.
Nielsen The Gauge February 2025
Max slipped again from 1.3% to 1.2%, Paramount Plus dropped from 1.4% to 1.3%, and Peacock grew from 1.4% to 1.5%. Combined they still only account for 4% of the market. Seeing how much they spend on original programming and you have a service such as Tubi sitting at 1.7%, which spends a pittance compared to them, and it’s difficult to justify these services existing on their own.
Some form of merger seems inevitable with these numbers. Why Paramount Plus hasn’t found a way to incorporate Pluto TV – which it owns – in a meaningful way is the true mystery of the moment. The two combined add up to 2.3% and would finally propel them up the list by a decent amount. There have been rumors of Max and Peacock being in talks, which would combine for 2.7%, which, while significant, would still see them lagging the likes of Hulu. With Prime Video integrating Freevee, Paramount is going to have to consider a move.
It’s clear TV consumption habits are changing at a rapid pace, and someone really need to study what is happening at YouTube.
IMAGE SOURCE: Shutterstock – Streaming – Poxima Studio
