• by Wayne Friedman , January 21, 2025

The top three major streaming platforms -- YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video -- set new levels in total TV viewing share for December -- the big holiday-season period -- according to Nielsen’s Total TV/Streaming monthly measure.

YouTube rose to a leading 11.1% share, while Netflix reached 8.5% and Prime Video came in at 4.0%.

Notably, Netflix soared 14% over the November result to a 8.5% share -- largely thanks to its two big Christmas Day games, which averaged 26.5 million Nielsen-measured viewers.

Season Two of its high-performing “Squid Game” and a new movie thriller, “Carry-On,” also brought strong viewing results.

Along with these results, the overall streaming marketplace climbed 9% to set another record -- to comprise 43.4% of all TV viewing time.

YouTube climbed 7% for the month of December, while Amazon Prime Video was up 8%, with a boost from late-season “Thursday Night Football” games and its holiday-focused film “Red One.”

The biggest gainer was Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max -- growing 18% to a 1.2% share.

Library TV series “The Big Bang Theory” and “Friends,” as well as its new sci-fi series “Dune Prophecy,” added high viewing numbers during the month.

Like Netflix, broadcast and cable networks benefited from football -- both NFL and college.

But fewer dramas and news content resulted in those platforms pulling back in overall share. Broadcast landed at 22.4% (23.7% in November), while cable came in at 23.8% (vs. 25% in the previous month).

For 2024, Nielsen says the year included nine days with over 100 billion TV viewing minutes, compared with 13 in 2023.

While Disney+ now amasses more content from Hulu and ESPN+ on the Disney+ platform, Nielsen says, in January it will be aggregating all this into a single total number under “Disney Streaming.”