Broadcast and cable networks gained some additional traction with U.S. viewers in January, thanks in large part to the postseasons in college football and the NFL.
Nielsen‘s TV use rankings for the first month of 2025 show cable (24.4 percent of all TV use) and broadcast (22.5 percent) each making some gains on their December 2024 numbers. Cable rose from 23.8 percent of TV usage the previous month, and broadcasters ticked up one tenth of a point. Streaming (42.6 percent of TV use in January) came down by a corresponding amount, though it still accounted for the largest share of viewing by a wide margin. (Other TV use made up the remaining 10.5 percent.)
The NFL playoffs accounted for largest broadcast audiences of Nielsen’s January reporting period (which ran from Dec. 30-Jan. 26), led by the conference championship games on Jan. 26 (57.4 million viewers on CBS and 44.2 million on Fox). Drama viewing on broadcast rose by 15 percent from December as a number of shows returned with new episodes, while news viewing grew 18 percent, led by the presidential inauguration.
News was also a key part of cable’s month-to-month growth, rising 26 percent from December. The top seven cable telecasts of the month, however, all belonged to ESPN’s College Football Playoffs.
Despite the slight decline from December, streaming’s 42.6 percent of all viewing was its second-highest in the history of Nielsen’s monthly rankings. Netflix’s Squid Game was the most watched series of the month with more than 9 billion minutes of viewing, helping the platform score its highest share so far of all TV use (8.6 percent).
Prime Video’s NFL wild-card game helped Jan. 11 become the second largest day for streaming volume in the U.S. on record (47 billion minutes on all platforms), behind only Christmas 2024’s 51.2 billion minutes. The Prime Video playoff game, which averaged 22.07 million viewers over its three-hour-plus running time, accounted for some 4 billion of those minutes.
Nielsen’s platform and streaming service rankings for January are below. As of this month, Nielsen is combining Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ into a single Disney streaming number, largely due to Hulu and ESPN+ content also being accessible via Disney+ for some subscribers.
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