• by Wayne Friedman , 5 hours ago

Although the NFL continues to dominate broadcast TV airwaves -- boosting viewership share by 0.6 percentage points in October over September -- year-over-year broadcast viewing fell 1.1 points from October 2024, according to Nielsen's total TV/streaming estimates.

Broadcast had a 22.9% share versus 24.0% a year ago.

And while broadcast continues to look to make major overall gains, sports programming viewing dropped 6.4% on over-the-air TV networks from September. Currently, sports accounts for nearly a third of all broadcast viewing in the month.

Overall broadcast improvements -- month to month -- were made from entertainment programming viewership, up 28%,  from CBS’ “Tracker,” “Matlock,” and “NCIS,” ABC’s “High Potential” and NBC’s “Chicago Fire.” 

Despite all this, year-over-year streaming raised its share to 45.7% from 40.5% -- up from 45.2% in September. 

On the flip side, cable-network share sank by a massive 4-plus percentage points -- 22.2% from 26.3% in October 2024 (down month-to-month -- 0.1% from September 2025).

Nearly a quarter of all cable TV viewing came from cable news networks.

Individual streaming platforms witnessed generally higher improvements, with YouTube rising to a 12.9% (vs. 10.6% in October 2024); Netflix, 8.0% (from 7.5%); Disney streaming platforms, 4.8% (vs. October a year ago, when Disney+ and Hulu combined for 4.8%), and Amazon, 3.8% (vs. 3.5%). 

NFL did not just push up broadcast, but streaming platforms as well. Peacock viewing over September grew 19% to a 1.6% share, while Paramount+ added 8% to 1.2% and Amazon Prime Video gained three percentage points on game days to a 6.4% share on Thursdays in October versus September.

Two FAST networks continue to post gains: Roku at 2.8% (1.8% in October 2024) and Tubi with 2.2% (1.8%).