January 2025 Nielsen Total TV & Streaming Snapshot
The January 2025 edition of Nielsen’s Total TV & Streaming Snapshot reflects a dramatic shift in viewing patterns as audiences moved away from holiday programming and into a busy news cycle. However, football remained the dominant force across platforms, driving both broadcast and streaming engagement.
Key Insights
📌 Football’s Impact Across Platforms
- The AFC Championship Game on CBS drew an enormous 57.4M viewers, bolstering broadcast viewership.
- January 11th saw the second-highest streaming day on record, reaching 47B viewing minutes, thanks to the NFL Wild Card game on Prime Video.
- College football also fueled a 42% increase in Cable Sports, with the CFP quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship ranking as the top seven cable telecasts in January.
📌 Broadcast & Cable Resurgence
- Broadcast TV saw its first share increase since September, largely driven by sports, dramas, and news.
- CBS’s Watson premiered as the top drama of the month, attracting 10.8M viewers.
- Cable TV reversed its monthly declines, gaining 7% overall, with news viewership surging 26% to become the largest share of cable viewing.
📌 Streaming Trends
- Streaming declined by 0.7 share points but was still up 6.6 points YoY.
- Netflix continued its dominance, as Squid Game topped the month with 9B viewing minutes.
- Disney Streaming (Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu combined) debuted with a 4.7% market share, driven by Bluey (4.7B minutes, second-most streamed title).
- Paramount+ tied its all-time high 1.4% share, thanks to Landman (4.4B minutes).
Looking Ahead
With February marking the conclusion of football season via the Super Bowl, Nielsen anticipates an influx of new original programming across both broadcast and streaming platforms.
