TV viewing has been on an incline in recent months. That was on display in January according to The Gauge from Nielsen.
The latest report shows that TV viewing in January rose 5% compared to the previous month. As one might expect, football broadcasts played a large role in that increase.
On Sunday, January 26th, CBS saw the largest television audience of the month as 57.4 million viewers tuned into the AFC Championship Game. On that same day, the NFC Championship Game earned 44.2 million viewers on FOX.
Those broadcasts followed 22.1 million viewers who watched the National Championship Game on ESPN on Monday, January 20th. The College Football Playoff helped increase cable sports viewing in January by 42%. Additionally, cable television saw a 7% monthly increase, powered by that increase in sports viewing but also a 26% increase in news viewing.
Overall, broadcast television viewing was up 5.1% in January as it benefited from increased interest in drama programs as well as news events.
Streaming — while still dominating the overall television landscape — saw the smallest growth during the month, as it was up 3% compared to the previous month. Netflix viewing rose 7% during the month, setting a new high-water mark at 8.6% of all streaming viewership. The Roku Channel saw another 9% increase in total viewership during the month. It now accounts for 2.1% of all streaming viewership. YouTube maintained its stop spot at 10.8% of all streaming.
In year-over-year streaming television viewership, January 2025 represented a 21% increase compared to January 2024. In that time period, Nielsen data shows streaming television has gained 6.6% of the share of TV viewing.
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