Television viewership maintained its fall momentum in October as the NFL again proved to be the most powerful force in media consumption, according to Nielsen’s latest edition of The Gauge.
The monthly snapshot showed pro football lifting both broadcast television and major streaming platforms, continuing a pattern that has defined the early part of the TV season.
Broadcast viewership rose 4.3% from September, giving the category its largest share of TV usage since November 2024. The NFL’s impact was especially evident on Sundays. Broadcast networks averaged a 27.3% share of total television on Sundays, up from 22.0% Monday through Saturday, marking the most significant day-part shift across any category.
Meanwhile, cable and streaming ticked up slightly during the week but dropped noticeably on Sundays when NFL games dominated the screen.
Streaming platforms also benefited from the league’s gravitational pull. Peacock posted a 19% jump in viewership to represent 1.6% of television for the month. Its share climbed to 2.0% on Sundays thanks to exclusive NFL coverage.
Paramount+ saw an 8% month-to-month boost and increased its Sunday share from 1.2% to 1.6%. Amazon’s Prime Video, fueled by Thursday Night Football, reached 6.4% of TV on game nights—three points higher than its monthly average.
Although broadcast sports viewing dipped 6.4% from September’s heavier schedule, the category still accounted for nearly one-third of all broadcast consumption.
NFL telecasts on CBS, FOX and NBC ranked as the top three programs of the month, each surpassing 20 million viewers on a live-plus-seven basis. The fall entertainment season added another lift, as broadcast dramas surged 28% in viewing. CBS titles such as Tracker, Matlock and NCIS, ABC’s High Potential and NBC’s Chicago Fire led the gains.
Streaming overall rose 2.4% in October, outpacing total TV usage and climbing to 45.7% of television time. While many streamers took hits during NFL windows, Netflix managed to grow on Sundays, rising to 8.2% of TV share for the day. The platform closed the month at 8.0% overall, driven largely by its hit true-crime series Monster: The Ed Gein Story, which topped all streaming titles with 5.4 billion minutes viewed.
Cable tracked closely with overall usage, rising 1.2% in watch-time but slipping to 22.2% of TV due to rounding.
Cable sports jumped nearly 50% from September and represented 14% of total category viewing. Feature films, buoyed by Halloween programming, rose 7%. Cable news retained its position as the top genre in the category, though it fell 3% from last month.
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