According to the latest Nielsen report, traditional TV won back some of its market share in January as sports playoffs called people back to their sets.
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Streaming services won out the holiday season, but now things are balancing out slightly more as sports playoffs were in demand throughout January.
Netflix managed to still grow slightly in January going up to 8.6% from 8.5%. 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.
Overall, all of streaming slipped back slightly to 42.6%, dropping from 43.3%. Meanwhile, broadcast grew to 22.5% from 22.4%, and cable jumped from 23.8% to 24.4%.
Nielsen The Gauge January 2025
Max grew from 1.2% to 1.3%, Paramount Plus held study at 1.4%, and Peacock slid from 1.6% to 1.4%. Combined they still only account for 4.1% 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 some companies are going to need to learn some hard lessons and soon.
IMAGE SOURCE: Shutterstock – Streaming – Poxima Studio
