YouTube captures 11.6% of TV viewing in February, Nielsen says

According to Nielsen’s February 2025 Media Distributor Gauge: “YouTube (GOOG) took the lead in Nielsen’s February 2025 Media Distributor Gauge, gaining 2% over January to capture 11.6% of time spent watching TV across the month. This marks YouTube’s best share of TV to date, and is the second time the pure-play streamer has topped the Media Distributor Gauge since Nielsen began tracking in November 2023. YouTube has exhibited steady usage increases for some time. A longer-term look at the platform’s growth illustrates that time spent watching YouTube on television is up 53% versus two years ago in February 2023, and its share of TV has grown from 7.9% to 11.6% in that time, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge reports. Additionally, the overall viewing bump has been increasingly driven by older audiences. Viewing from adults aged 65+ has nearly doubled in the last two years and the demographic now represents a viewing contribution similar to that from kids 2-11. FOX (FOX) -owned entities gained 5% in February on the strength of a successful multi-platform Super Bowl, in addition to a 3% bump in FOX News Channel viewership, which drove 37% of the company’s total viewing. FOX Sports 1 viewership was also up 45% compared with January, primarily attributable to NASCAR events. Overall, FOX achieved an 8.3% share of TV usage in February and climbed from sixth to third in the rankings to notch its highest placement to date in the Media Distributor Gauge. Following its best monthly performance to date in the Media Distributor Gauge, which was driven by NFL games and the College Football Playoffs, Disney (DIS) lost two share points in February. This impact dropped them out of the top slot for only the third time since the inception of the Media Distributor Gauge,” said Nielsen … Other companies in the space include Netflix (NFLX), Paramount (PARA), Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and AMC Networks (AMCX)….