• by Wayne Friedman , February 18, 2025

Viewing time in January’s Nielsen Total TV and Streaming report grew 5% from December 2024 -- with broadcast and cable platforms taking some share out of the streaming TV category.

NFL and NCAA sports content made the difference. Broadcast added one-tenth of a share point (to 22.5%), while cable gained six-tenth of a share point (to 22.4%).

This meant that broadcast viewing was up 5% in January versus December -- when drama series and news content grew by 15% and 18%, respectively.

Cable was up 7% in viewing, mostly from sports (42% higher) and news viewership (26% more).

Streaming moved down seven-tenths of a share point to 42.6%. Still, streaming platforms are up 21% (a 36% share) versus a year ago.

For this January period, YouTube edged down to a 10.8% (versus 11.1% in December 2024). Netflix was nearly the same, at 8.6% (versus 8.5% in December). Prime Video was down 3.7% (from 4.0%).

Next was a new listing -- Disney Streaming. Nielsen decided to merge Disney streaming platforms -- Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ -- because of the company making Hulu and ESPN+ content now available on Disney+

This rocketed Disney up to a 4.7% share. In December 2024, Hulu was at 2.5% share, while Disney+ was at 2.1%. This put Disney in third place right behind Netflix (8.6%) and ahead of Prime Video, 3.7%.

The Roku Channel continued its rise -- for the fourth consecutive month -- up 9% to a 2.1% share. Paramount+ tied its best share ever with a 1.4%. The new original series "Landman" was one of the three best overall streaming January titles.

This story has been updated.