Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

The Gauge: Traditional TV Gets a Boost from Football and News in January 2025

18/02/2025

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
LINK: https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2025/the-gauge-traditional-tv-gets...
See more stories from arbitron

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Sony Introduces SEL814G Fisheye Zoom G Lens

Sony Electronics has announced the SEL814G, the company's first fisheye zoom G Lens for full-frame Alpha E-mount cameras. The lens will be available in Octo...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Telestream Expands Practical AI Capabilities Across Vantage and UP Platform

Telestream has announced an expansion of its Practical AI capabilities across th...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Chyron and Haivision Announce Camera-to-Cloud Live Production Integration

Haivision and Chyron have announced a technology partnership integrating Haivisi...

09/09/2026

ManningCast Reveals 2026-27 Season Schedule with Heist Mini Movie

Omaha Productions has released ManningCast: Heist, a short film featuring Peyton and Eli Manning attempting to break into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's o...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Imagine Communications to Showcase XVR Updates

Imagine Communications will demonstrate the next evolution of XVR at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14). XVR is Imagine's channel-in-a-b...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: swXtch.io Launches AI Broadcast Orchestration Tool abbe

swXtch.io has announced abbe, an AI-based orchestration layer for live media workflows, making its world premiere at IBC2026 (Meeting Room 5.MR13, Hall 5, Septe...

09/09/2026

Inside the NFL Returns to X for Second Season, Marking 50th Anniversary

NFL Films has announced the second season of Inside the NFL on X as an X Original, premiering Wednesday, September 9. The series marks Inside the NFL's 50th...

09/09/2026

LiveU Expands AP Partnership with LU900Q Fleet and MAM Integration

LiveU has announced an expanded partnership with The Associated Press, deploying the largest fleet of LU900Q intelligent production units in the industry as par...

09/09/2026

Diversified to Consolidate New Jersey Operations into New Newark Facility

Diversified has announced plans to consolidate its four existing New Jersey locations into a new facility in Newark, expected to be fully operational by the end...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Wisycom Showcases MATF Antenna Matrix, PFL RFoF Box, and MPR60 Updates

Wisycom will exhibit new RF products at IBC2026 (Stand 8.D60, September 11-14), including the MATF Wideband Antenna Matrix, PFL Portable RF over Fiber Box, and ...

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: G&D and VuWall to Introduce vsNEO KVM-over-IP Platform

Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) and VuWall, both Panoptec companies, will introduce vsNEO at IBC2026 (Stand 8.B63, September 11, RAI Amsterdam). Pre-orders open in ea...

09/09/2026

Mo-Sys Completes Restructuring, Promotes Selin Kemal to Managing Director

Mo-Sys has completed a business restructuring and relocated to a new facility in Canada Water, London. As part of the reorganization, Selin Kemal has been promo...

09/09/2026

Aicox and TAG Video Systems Power Monitoring for Telefnicas TSAmediaHUB

Aicox has integrated TAG Video Systems' Core monitoring platform into Telef nica's TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure....

09/09/2026

IBC 2026: Blackmagic Design Releases DaVinci Resolve 21.1

Blackmagic Design has released DaVinci Resolve 21.1, a free update available now through the Blackmagic Design website. The release adds new AI tools, workflow ...

09/09/2026

ESPN and Apple Music Collaborate on Monday Night Football Music Curation for 2026-27 Season

ESPN and Apple Music have announced a collaboration on music curation for Monday...

09/09/2026

Sacramento Production Services Deploys Wisycom RF System at Sutter Health Park

Sacramento Production Services has completed a wireless audio overhaul at Sutter Health Park, home of the Athletics during their three-year residency in Sacrame...

09/09/2026

NDI and NVIDIA Collaborate on AI-Powered Multilingual Content Workflows

NDI and NVIDIA have announced a collaboration to develop AI-powered workflows enabling broadcasters to create and distribute multilingual content from a single ...

09/09/2026

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Announces the Class of 2026

Christopher Chip Adams, Troy Aikman, Jim Dove, Jim Eady, Bucky Gunts, Robert A. Iger, Charlie Jablonski, Robert Kraft, Tom Rinaldi, and Dick Stockton to be ho...

09/09/2026

NBC Sports Opens 21st SNF Season With Expanded Schedule, Traveling Studio Show, and Bulked Up Toolkit

ND2 returns as the primary unit, While FNIA gets SSQC and new flexible Rover...

09/09/2026

Celemony Tonalic gains additional Paul Kleber upright bass

New parts aimed at hip-hop and pop productions The latest update to Celemony's innovative virtual session musician expands the collection of built-in in...

09/09/2026

Sonarworks Autumn Sale

Save up to 40% until 21 September 2026 Sonarworks are currently running their Autumn Sale, with discounts of up to 40% currently available across their rang...

09/09/2026

Bjooks Beat Gems to begin shipping

Upcoming title officially launches in September 2026 Bjooks' celebrations for this year's 909 Day will be welcome news amongst drum machine lovers, ...

09/09/2026

NITV to bring First Nations netball to audiences nationwide

NITV to bring First Nations netball to audiences nationwide 9 September, 2026 Media releases Every match of the 2026 First Nations Tournament will be live ...

09/09/2026

NFVF CALL FOR PROPOSALS: YOUTH FILMMAKER PROJECT FACILITATING COMPANY 2026

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites eligible Tier 1 and 2 South African production companies to submit proposals to serve as the Facilitating ...

09/09/2026

Nielsen launches CTV Ad spend data into its Italian Ad Intel product

Italy launch follows UK and Germany as Nielsen expands product across EMEA Milan, Italy, September 9, 2026 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, ...

09/09/2026

Gracenote Expands AI Product Roadmap with Sports MCP Server, Entertainment SLM and Agents

Planned solutions tackle accuracy, cost and latency barriers to deploying AI at ...

09/09/2026

Dalet Promotes Brian Doheny to CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

Studio Technologies Expands StudioComm Monitoring With In...

Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, introduces its new Model 791 Control Console at IBC 2026 (N...

09/09/2026

Maxon Brings Exclusive Preview of Fall Innovations to IBC...

Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects and visualization, is headin...

09/09/2026

NUGEN Audio Leads the Dialog Intelligibility Conversation...

NUGEN Audio unveils DialogCheck v1.2, the latest evolution of its intelligent dialog intelligibility and compliance tool, at IBC 2026 (Pod P27). With a sharpene...

09/09/2026

Trusted Partner Network Launches Fix It or Risk It to Hel...

Trusted Partner Network Launches Fix It or Risk It to Help the Entertainment Industry Tackle Everyday Security Risks Industry-Wide Campaign Launches at IBC2...

09/09/2026

FCC to Vote on Opening Up Spectrum for Satellite, IoT

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

NDI, NVIDIA Collaborate On Real-Time AI Multilingual Content

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

83 percent of UK advertisers are using AI but speed and n...

AI has moved firmly beyond experimentation in UK advertising, with more than eight in ten marketers (83%) now actively using or piloting AI in production, accor...

09/09/2026

Pixitmedia by DataCore to showcase cloud and connected pr...

IBC2026 - Stand 7.D22 At IBC2026, Pixitmedia by DataCore will showcase its latest capabilities designed to simplify distributed production, accelerate workflow...

09/09/2026

Net Insight Showcases Open Live Media for Controlled Live...

Stockholm, Sweden September 9th, 2026 At IBC2026, on booth 1.B47, Net Insight will showcase Open Live Media, its architecture for delivering resilient live ...

09/09/2026

Net Insight and DMC expand repeatable remote production m...

Net Insight today announced that DMC Production Norway is continuing the use of its Open Live Media technology for premium European football, deploying Nimbra 5...

09/09/2026

Amagi to Showcase Four AI-Native Innovations Built to Pow...

Amagi, the media industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, will showcase four new AI-native capabilities at IBC2026, Hall 5, S...

09/09/2026

Limecraft Brings Connected Automated and Intelligent Medi...

Limecraft today announces version 2026.6 of its AI-powered production platform, extending capabilities for connected media operations. An AI-assisted approach t...

09/09/2026

Telestream Advances Practical AI from Content Understandi...

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the next evolution of its Practical AI strategy, evolving its comprehensive portfoli...

09/09/2026

Dalet Appoints Brian Doheny as Chief Executive Officer

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the appointment of Brian Doheny as Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....

09/09/2026

LiveU Offers Starlink for News and Sports Broadcast as Cl...

LiveU is now a Clarus Integrated Reseller, bringing Starlink's fast, reliable broadband directly into LiveU's cellular bonding EcoSystem through a singl...

09/09/2026

Study: New Streaming TV Series Orders Plumet

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

G&D, VuWall To Introduce vsNEO KVM Platform At IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

FCC May Ramp Up Regulation of How Broadcasters Cover Polls

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

Avid to Demo New Avid Content Core Features at IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/09/2026

Wisycom Showcases Latest Innovations at IBC 2026

Wisycom is showcasing the latest additions to its ecosystem of professional RF technologies at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.D60). This includes its new MATF Wideband Anten...

09/09/2026

VisualOn and Cires21 Cut Delivery Bitrate Up to 76 Percen...

AMSTERDAM, IBC2026 VisualOn, Inc. and Cires21 today released an updated joint whitepaper at IBC 2026 demonstrating measurable, high-impact improvements in visu...