According to the latest figures from Nielsen, [abc]streaming[/abc] reached a historic milestone in the USA last May. It was the first month in which the combined viewing time of traditional cable and linear TV networks was surpassed by that of streaming on TV.
TV viewing time in the United States, the streaming leader££££
Thus in May 2025 streaming represents 44.8% of TV viewing, its largest share since its inception. Linear TV (20.1%) and cable (24.1%) together represent only 44.2% of TV viewing. This represents an increase of 71% for streaming since 2021, and a decrease of 21% for linear TV, 39% for cable.
In 2021, five services made up the streaming offer on TV, Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Prime Video and Disney+, there are now eleven. Among the subscription platforms, Netflix is naturally the leader each year, with an audience that has climbed by 27% since 2021.
YouTube in ambush…££££
Of course, free services have largely contributed to the success of streaming, starting with YouTube whose audience has climbed by 120% since 2021. For the month of May, YouTube represented 12.5% of all TV viewing with four consecutive months of growth, and the largest share of TV viewing among all the platforms offered.