
NYE, Golden Globes and scripted dramas also elevate broadcast viewing.
Netflix achieves a new platform record, powered by 9B viewing minutes of Squid Game'
January 11 clocks 47 billion daily streaming minutes, supercharged by Prime Video's exclusive NFL Wild Card game
NEW YORK - February 18, 2025 - Nielsen's January 2025 report of The Gauge revealed that TV viewing in January was up 5% compared with an already robust December, driven largely by current events and seasonal factors. Football again played a significant role in January's monthly viewing uptick, with games across the NFL and NCAA drawing big audiences and contributing to share increases for both broadcast ( 0.1pt., 22.5%) and cable ( 0.6pt., 24.4%).
The NFL AFC Championship game on CBS drew this month's largest audience with 57.4 million viewers on Sunday, January 26, followed by the NFC Championship game, which brought in 44.2 million viewers on FOX on the same day. Coverage of the College Football Playoffs on ESPN, in addition to other various bowl games, helped drive a 42% bump in cable sports viewing in January. What's more, the seven CFP games included in the January report (four Quarterfinals, two Semifinals and the National Championship) accounted for the top seven cable telecasts this month, led by the 22.1 million viewers that watched the National Championship Game on January 20.
January also highlighted how consumers' viewing habits have evolved to become more flexible when seeking out preferred content across various distribution platforms. Prime Video exclusively streamed the NFL Wild Card playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens on January 11, which in turn helped drive the second-highest day of streaming on record. Behind the current all-time high of 51.2 billion streaming minutes set on Christmas Day 2024, January 11, 2025 produced over 47 billion streaming minutes in total.
Outside of sports events, traditional television drew audiences by other means as well. Overall broadcast viewing was up 5.1% in January, benefiting from increases to drama series ( 15%) and news ( 18%). The top non-sports broadcast telecasts in January were an eclectic mix led by ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve with 17.9 million viewers, followed by the post-AFC Championship premier of Watson on CBS with 10.8 million, and the Golden Globe Awards on CBS with 9.7 million. Meanwhile, cable viewing exhibited a 7% monthly increase, and, in addition to the 42% lift in sports viewership, cable also benefited from a 26% increase in news viewing. FOX News Channel dominated non-sports telecasts this month, led by its Inauguration Day coverage.
From a streaming perspective, streaming viewership in January was up 3% versus December and the category accounted for the largest share of television with 42.6%. On a year-over-year basis, streaming usage grew 21% compared with January 2024, and the category has gained 6.6% share of TV viewing.
Notable among streaming platforms:
Netflix followed a robust December with an even stronger January, as viewership rose 7% to lead the streamer to a new platform record of 8.6% of TV. Netflix's big month was due in large part to Squid Game, which generated 9 billion viewing minutes as January's top streaming title.
The Roku Channel also extended its growth streak and notched a fourth consecutive month of platform-best achievement, increasing viewership by 9% in January to reach 2.1% of TV.
As indicated in the December 2024 Gauge report, this marks the first month that Disney's streaming entities (Disney , Hulu and ESPN ) are consolidated into a single share. Disney Streaming began the year with a 4.7% share of TV. Bluey, which received Nielsen's first ARTEY Award for top streaming title in 2024, was January's second most-streamed program with 4.7 billion viewing minutes accumulated on Disney .
The Paramount original series Landman rounded out the top three streaming titles in January with 4.4 billion viewing minutes, and helped the streamer tie its platform best share with 1.4% of TV.
Note: Disney , Hulu and ESPN viewing have been aggregated into a single total represented as Disney Streaming beginning with the January 2025 Gauge report. This change is due to Disney making Hulu and ESPN content available within the Disney app for certain subscribers, which could affect crediting between Disney's streaming properties as it relates to The Gauge.
-- The January 2025 interval dates included 12/30/2024 through 01/26/2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar with measurement weeks that run Monday through Sunday.
About The Gauge The Gauge is Nielsen's monthly snapshot of total broadcast, cable and streaming consumption that occurs through a television screen, providing the industry with a holistic look at what audiences are watching. The Gauge was expanded in April 2024 to include The Media Distributor Gauge, which reflects total viewing by media distributor across these categories. Read more about The Gauge methodology and FAQs.
About NielsenNielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences-now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).
Press ContactLauren Pabst
lauren.pabst@nielsen.com
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
20/07/2026
The former Northwestern broadcast-operations leader is helping train the next generation of live-sports-production talent across the Big Ten
The sports-product...
20/07/2026
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. Whi...
20/07/2026
Product range now readily available in the UK
Graph Tech Guitar Labs have just announced the launch of a new UK Online Store that makes it quicker and easie...
20/07/2026
Popular headset gains active noise cancellation
The Maxwell headet was Audeze's first foray into the gaming world, and thanks to its Dolby Atmos compati...
20/07/2026
The NFVF, an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, has released t...
20/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/07/2026
Starfish Technologies will use IBC2026 to showcase the flexibility of its transport stream processing software, including the latest versions of TS Splicer (Win...
20/07/2026
Bitfocus, the specialist in media control and monitoring, will show at IBC2026 (Elgato stand 8.D31, Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September) how its Buttons control la...
20/07/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced new AI capabilities that e...
20/07/2026
Big Blue Marble's Cloud DRM has been nominated in the DRM/Content Protection category of the 2026 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards.
Only four pro...
20/07/2026
Monday 20 July 2026
Sky brings free global roaming to millions of loyal custome...
20/07/2026
Red Seat Ventures Announces Introduction of Premium Creator and Podcast Communit...
20/07/2026
FIFA World Cup Final sets new RT Player record as the most-streamed single event in the platform's history
Over 1 million viewers watched live on RT 2 as ...
20/07/2026
At this year's SIGGRAPH conference, running through Thursday, July 23, in Lo...
20/07/2026
Erin Davis calls it the SuperDuperPOD. That's two things in one name: phar...
19/07/2026
Justin Bieber, Madonna, Shakira, BTS make for a diverse lineup, and the venue ad...
19/07/2026
The stage is set: three-time champion Argentina will defend its World Cup title ...
19/07/2026
Channel strip plug-in gets upgraded
Acustica Audio's vintage-inspired channel strip plug-in has just been treated to an update that expands its tonal ra...
18/07/2026
Topics include pre-match ceremonies, live performances, the tournament's fir...
18/07/2026
When FIFA and HBS set out to produce the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the numbers alone ...
18/07/2026
Captures nine sought-after Fender amps
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX expansion captures a selection of nine rare Brown Panel' Fender amps that were ...
18/07/2026
Latest batch ships alongside firmware update
Since being unveiled at Superbooth 2025, Frap Tools' debut polysynth has been met with widespread praise, a...
18/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
18/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
17/07/2026
Production workers at Brooklyn Bowl's Williamsburg location voted 15-1 to join IATSE Local 4. The bargaining unit covers 24 production workers at the venue,...
17/07/2026
DAZN and ADI Predictstreet have announced an exclusive global strategic partners...
17/07/2026
Zixi and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a strategic integrati...
17/07/2026
Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced a multi-year partnership with E...
17/07/2026
Spectrum Business has announced Spectrum TV Control Pro, a centralized app-based...
17/07/2026
Clark Wire and Cable has announced that Rick Fernandez, Managing Director of Axxion Consulting, will serve as Independent Manufacturers Representative for Centr...
17/07/2026
TikTok, the NBA, and the WNBA have announced a multi-year global content partnership covering highlights distribution, creator access to marquee events, live-ga...
17/07/2026
Company alleges article contained false and misleading claims regarding customer data...
17/07/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
17/07/2026
(L-R) Edward James Olmos, Luis Valdez, Lou Diamond Phillips and Lupe Valdez attend American Pachuco: The Legend Of Luis Valdez Premiere during the 2026 Sundan...
17/07/2026
Full engine access with reduced soundset
Sonuscore have steadily been introducing a selection of reduced-cost and free versions of their flagship products r...
17/07/2026
Two new special-edition models revealed
Over the past week, Arturia have launched special-edition versions of both their premium MIDI controller and stage p...
17/07/2026
Original founder now back at the helm
In a message posted on his personal social media accounts, Dirk Ulrich has announced that both Plugin Alliance and Bra...
17/07/2026
Legendary presenter Anton Enus to sign off from SBS World News after 27 years wi...
17/07/2026
Millions rise before dawn to watch FIFA World Cup 2026 semi-finals on SBS
17 July, 2026
Media releases
England v Argentina attracted a Total TV reach of a...
17/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/07/2026
Foundry Releases SmartRoto for Nuke
Brie Clayton July 17, 2026
0 Comments
Spline-based AI powered plugin accelerates time-consuming rotoscoping, helping...
17/07/2026
A Short Documentary About a Giant Pencil Edited with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton July 17, 2026
0 Comments
SBIFF jury award winner finished fro...
17/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
17/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...