Latest Nielsen Report Highlights Broadcast TV Decline In Viewership
Nielsen has released its latest “Gauge” data update for June 2025, which gives a broad overview of how Americans watch television, including linear and streaming services like Disney+ and Hulu.
According to the latest Nielsen report, in June, YouTube continued to build its dominance as one of the primary ways people consume video entertainment, with Netflix experiencing a strong month of growth.
The biggest news from this data is that viewership via broadcast linear channels like ABC, CBS and NBC continue to drop, making up just 18.5% of the overall viewership, down on previous months and marking a new low. It’s common for linear viewership to decline in the summer months as there are fewer new shows or sports events to keep people tuning in. But it continues to highlight the decline in linear television, while streaming viewership continues to grow. Time spent streaming was up 5.4% over last month, which was primarily driven by both a standout month for Netflix, and a seasonal influx in viewing from school-aged audiences.
Netflix recorded the largest monthly uptick among streaming platforms in June, posting a 13.5% viewing increase over May and adding 0.8 share points to command 8.3% of TV. In fact, Netflix’s performance was so strong, it accounted for 42% of streaming’s total monthly gain. The considerable upswing for Netflix was powered by a slate of highly successful content, including its original series Ginny & Georgia, which was the most-streamed title of the month with 8.7 billion viewing minutes. The “Netflix Effect” was also in full view with the immediate popularity of acquired series Animal Kingdom and Blindspot, which earned the second and third most-streamed titles in June and combined for 11.4 billion viewing minutes (5.71B and 5.69B, respectively). Finally, Netflix rounded out the month with the release of the third season of Squid Game, which generated nearly a billion viewing minutes per day across the series in the final three days of June.
The summer months also see a boost in viewership of children’s programming, as Kids and teens were the other main drivers of streaming’s share shift, as well as for the overall increase in total television usage, which was up 3% over May. With more time to spend in front of the TV, total usage among 6-17 year-olds was up 27% versus last month, and streaming accounted for two-thirds (66%) of their total time spent with TV in June.
Disney was able to hold onto its third place behind Netflix and YouTube, though it did lose some viewership percentage, likely down to fewer new releases.
Roger’s Take: The monthly Gauge data from Nielsen is always a good indication of how the American audience is consuming its television. It’s very clear that broadcast and cable viewership is on a constant decline, with people cutting the cord every day, while streaming use continues to grow. This is only likely to get worse for the television studios, and it’s a major reason why they are making so many changes to their strategy, often involving selling off or spinning off their linear businesses to reduce costs.
What did you watch on TV in June? Let me know on social media!
