Four days in December interval exceed 100 billion viewing minutes of TV.
Netflix 14% on strength of NFL Christmas Day games, Carry-On' and Squid Game.'
Prime Video notches platform-best 4.0% of TV, led by Red One' with 5.6 billion viewing minutes.
YouTube achieves record-setting share with 11.1% of TV watch time.
The December 2024 interval dates included 11/25/2024 through 12/29/2024. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar with measurement weeks that run Monday through Sunday.
NEW YORK - January 21, 2025 - The Gauge's December 2024 interval was bookended by the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, both of which are historically known for accumulating high volumes of TV viewing. These drivers contributed to a 4% increase in overall time spent watching television compared with November, with each holiday also accounting for two of the four days in the interval to exceed 100 billion TV viewing minutes. In total, 2024 included nine days with over 100 billion TV viewing minutes, compared with 13 in 2023.
Thanksgiving and Christmas Day also hosted the top six most watched telecasts of the month. These included the three Thanksgiving NFL games, led by the Giants vs. Cowboys on FOX with 38.5 million viewers, followed at No. 4 by NBC's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with 23.8 million viewers. The fifth and sixth top telecasts belonged to Netflix in its NFL debut on Christmas Day, whose two games each drew over 23 million viewers and helped bolster an already strong month for the streamer.
Netflix accounted for 8.5% of total TV viewing in December, tying its platform best share set in July 2023. Netflix notched a 14% increase over the previous interval, and while some of that was attributable to the two NFL games, calculations showed the streamer's monthly usage would have been up 11% even if contributions from the games were excluded. Netflix benefited from its action thriller film Carry-On, which generated 5.2 billion viewing minutes from Dec. 13 29 and achieved the third-most streamed title of the interval. It also received a boost following the Season 2 premiere of Squid Game, which accumulated 4.9 billion viewing minutes in the final week of the interval and also notched the highest weekly total (measured Monday through Sunday) for any streaming title in 2024.
On top of a 7.6% increase in November, streaming viewership climbed another 9% in December and the category secured a new Gauge record with 43.4% of total TV watch time. In addition to Netflix, nearly all reported streaming platforms exhibited gains and several achieved platform bests:
YouTube viewing was up 7% to propel the platform to a record 11.1% share of TV usage.
Prime Video reached a platform best 4.0% share of TV, as it benefited from hosting five NFL Thursday Night Football games, including one on Black Friday, during the December interval, as well as from its holiday blockbuster film Red One, which racked up 5.6 billion viewing minutes as the month's top streaming title. Prime Video also saw success from its new original reality series Beast Games starring Jimmy MrBeast Donaldson, with over 700 million viewing minutes accumulated across its first three episodes.
Max garnered an 18% monthly viewing increase in December, the largest among all streaming platforms, with upticks driven by its deep library of available shows like The Big Bang Theory and Friends, as well as newcomer Dune Prophecy.
The broadcast and cable categories were notably football-heavy in December, and each saw monthly increases in sports viewership of 17% and 29%, respectively, due to games across the NFL, various college bowl games, and the first round of the College Football Playoffs. The cable category also received an 18% bump in feature film viewing (on top of a 14% increase in November). Both categories, however, had to contend with seasonal-related declines: Broadcast networks pulled back on scripted dramas during the holiday season, resulting in an 18% dip in that genre, and cable news, following the end of the presidential election cycle, dropped by 27%. Overall, broadcast and cable viewing accounted for 22.4% and 23.8% of December TV watch time, respectively, and 46.2% of TV viewing combined.
Note: Over the past year, Disney has made Hulu and ESPN content available within the Disney app for certain subscribers. This integration could affect crediting between Disney's streaming properties as it relates to The Gauge. To resolve this, Disney , Hulu and ESPN viewing will be aggregated into a single total represented as Disney Streaming beginning with the January 2025 Gauge report.
--
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 Nielsen
Nielsen 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 Contact
Lauren Pabst
lauren.pabst@nielsen.com
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Four days in December interval exceed 100 billion viewing minutes of TV.
