Nielsen Gauge Reveals Disney+, Hulu & ESPN+ Combined Viewership

Nielsen has released its latest “Gauge” data update for January 2025, which has given us a broad overview of how Americans watch television. This includes linear and streaming services like Disney+ and Hulu.  

The data has shown that  TV viewing in January was up 5% compared with an already robust December, driven largely by current events and seasonal factors. Football again played a significant role in January’s monthly viewing uptick, with games across the NFL and NCAA drawing big audiences and contributing to share increases for both broadcast (+0.1pt., 22.5%) and cable (+0.6pt., 24.4%).

Coverage of the College Football Playoffs on ESPN, in addition to other various bowl games, helped drive a 42% bump in cable sports viewing in January.

Due to the launch of Hulu On Disney+ and ESPN On Disney+, Nielsen has merged all three of the streaming services, Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ into a single entity. “Disney Streaming” began the year with a 4.7% share of TV. Bluey, which received Nielsen’s first ARTEY Award for top streaming title in 2024, was January’s second most-streamed program with 4.7 billion viewing minutes accumulated on Disney+.

Netflix followed a robust December with an even stronger January, as viewership rose 7% to lead the streamer to a new platform record of 8.6% of TV. Netflix’s big month was due in large part to Squid Game, which generated 9 billion viewing minutes as January’s top streaming title.

The Roku Channel also extended its growth streak and notched a fourth consecutive month of platform-best achievement, increasing viewership by 9% in January to reach 2.1% of TV.

The merging of Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu viewership into one offering, since almost everything from these three platforms is available within Disney+ as part of its single-app experience, we can see how, when combined, Disney has the second biggest paid streaming platform.

Roger’s Take: The monthly Gauge data from Nielsen is always a good indication of how the American audience is consuming its television.  The combined Disney streaming viewership gives a more realistic view, since a large portion of Hulu viewership now happens within Disney+, the lines have been blurred between the three streaming services. 

What did you watch on TV in January?  Let me know on social media!