3 Things We Learned About Media Stocks from Nielsen’s TV Snapshot - 4/22/25
YouTube reaches new highs in total TV share
This is a companion post to a video I uploaded this afternoon to the Accrued Interest YouTube channel - “3 Things We Learned About Media Stocks from Nielsen’s TV Snapshot”. As promised, I wanted to use the substack to explain some points.
1) YouTube continued at #1 in a month of high-profile streaming releases
The biggest takeaway was that YouTube was again #1 this month. For well over a year, it has consistently been the #1 source for total big-screen watch time. In March, YouTube had an all-time high share of 12% of total watch time. For comparison, that's up about +24% vs. last year, when YouTube’s share was 9.7%. Not only its YT the biggest, it is the most consistent of all the streaming services at growing its share each month. Most other streamers have stagnated in terms of growth - even Netflix seems to have reached a bit of a ceiling in the short-term (see NFLX below).
2) Netflix is a consistent #2, but did not gain share in March 2025
Netflix has been #2 for well over a year, and in March they had a watch time of about 7.9% of total TV minutes. That's down slightly from where they were last year, around 8.1%. So Netflix has reached a bit of a ceiling. Their previous high in the survey was about 8.5%. This is still far ahead of the #3 and #4 services. So without a doubt it is YouTube, Netflix and then everyone else…
3) Streaming achieved its largest share to date with 43.8% of TV in March
Based on current trends, I still believe that 2025 will be the year we see streaming have a higher share than the broadcast and cable combined. In just 1 year (see chart below) streaming added +5.3% pts of share - going from 38.5% in March 2024 to 43.8% in 2025. I would expect broadcast and cable share losses to accelerate this summer when there are fewer new series releases and no Summer Olympics (remember July 2024) to help out old-school television.
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-Accrued Interest