Following several months establishing new records, new data within the March 2025 Gauge report from Nielsen Media Research demonstrates streaming dominance with an accrual of 43.8% of television viewing. The three-tenths rise from February took place during a competitive time of year featuring several new releases and original franchises on streaming platforms, some of which include The White Lotus, Running Point and Severance, existing across different platforms.
Out of all the streaming services included in the report, Max had the largest monthly increase with a 6% proliferation on the month. Concurrent with this rise, YouTube secured a new platform record with 12% of total television watch time despite having slightly lower viewing levels from the previous month.
“This month followed the more traditional March Madness path towards the Final Four, which will conclude in next month’s interval, which primarily drove the cable category,” said Brian Fuhrer, senior vice president of product strategy and thought leadership at Nielsen Media Research. “But the tentpole event of the month was The Oscars on ABC, which attracted over 20 million viewers, nearly doubling any other title in this interval.”
The time spent watching television throughout March was down 6% on the month amid seasonal shifts, but cable nonetheless augmented its total share by eight-tenths of a point with the NCAA Division I Basketball tournaments airing across several networks. Sports viewership on cable was up 29% on the month with the most-watched telecasts taking place within the Men’s Elite Eight round featuring Alabama-Duke (9.8 million viewers, +26% YoY) and Florida-Texas Tech (7.5 million, +16% YoY). Cable news viewing also amassed viewership gains on the month, accounting for seven of the top-10 cable telecasts led by coverage of the presidential address to a Joint Session of Congress.
The broadcast television category was led by the ABC presentation of The Oscars early in the month, which averaged 20.3 million viewers on the network and simulcast on Hulu. Scripted dramas were responsible for 28% of the total viewing in the category within March, with Tracker on CBS collecting five of the top-10 broadcast telecasts. The absence of football in the month is said to have contributed to the 9% monthly decline from February and one-third drop of broadcast sports viewership. Broadcast television realized 20.5% of television usage for the month, which is down by 2% from The Gauge report at this time last year.
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