U.S. streaming viewership exceeded cable and broadcast audiences combined in May, an industry first. Streaming amassed a record 44.8 percent of total U.S. television usage, inching past cable and broadcast’s combined 44.2 percent of audience according to Nielsen. In the four years since Nielsen launched The Gauge measurement report in May 2021, U.S. streaming viewership grew by 71 percent while cable and broadcast viewing declined by 39 percent and 21 percent, respectively, with traditional TV showing “surprising resilience,” the current report notes. During those four years, “Netflix has gone wire-to-wire as the leading SVOD provider,” according to The Gauge.

Netflix viewership has climbed 27 percent since May 2021 and lays claim to the biggest day in U.S. streaming history from that four year period — Christmas Day 2024, when the subscription service programmed two exclusive live NFL games, according to Nielsen, which shared the monthly news from its data hub The Gauge.

Although the original Gauge list of streaming platforms that exceed a full share point of TV usage only reached five — Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Prime Video and Disney+ — the number was 11 as of May 2025.

“FAST services have become increasingly popular, and three have reached the reportable threshold in The Gauge: PlutoTV, Roku Channel and Tubi combined for 5.7 percent of total TV viewing in May, which is larger than any individual broadcast network this interval,” Nielsen reports.

Through its combination of free and subscription viewing, YouTube has consistently topped The Gauge’s list of streaming platforms, representing 12.5 percent of all television viewing in May, its fourth consecutive monthly share increase and the highest share of TV for any streamer to date,” Nielsen says.

The New York Times does a deep dive on the Nielsen data, analyzing how streaming went from just 26 percent of U.S. viewing in 2021 compared to broadcast and cable’s combined 74 percent to its first full month of dominating those sectors. Surprisingly, viewers over the age of 65 “have been moving to streaming in droves in the last few years — particularly to platforms that are free and require no subscription,” NYT writes.

“Older viewers are a major reason that ‘Gunsmoke’ — the fabled Western that premiered in 1955 and went off the air in 1975 — has been making regular appearances in Nielsen’s most-watched streaming series lists over the past few months,” NYT adds.

But Variety reports that “with 4 billion minutes watched, the No. 1 streaming program of the month was ‘You’ thanks to the release of its final season — a full circle moment for Netflix, which acquired Season 1 of the series from Lifetime, saw strong viewership, then picked up the series and produced it in-house for the following four seasons.”