Streaming managed to maintain a total TV share of 47.6% in April 2026. While the category didn’t see any growth during the month, it didn’t see any decline either, unlike the month before.
What You Need to Know
- Streaming maintained its TV share in April, cable continued inching upward, and broadcast declined again.
- YouTube, Prime Video, WBD, and Tubi all saw their shares increase, while Netflix, Disney, Paramount, and Peacock declined.
- Free platforms maintained their momentum, with The Roku Channel holding its share, and Tubi increasing to a new high.
Streaming’s total TV share stood at 48% in February 2026, and with that share dropping down to 47.6% in March, the category had seen a month-over month decline of around 0.4%.
With 47.6% noted by Nielsen for April, Streaming managed to maintain the same total TV share for two months in a row, and while Cable continued to see its share increase.
After registering a 20% total TV share in February, Cable saw its share increase to 21.4% in March. In April, the category’s share increased once again, up to 21.6%, marking its largest share of television over the past six months.
With Streaming maintaining its share, and Cable increasing its share, it should not come as too much of a suprise that Broadcast saw its share decline.
After increasing from 21.5% in January to 21.7% in February, Broadcast’s share dropped to 20.3% in March. In April, its share dropped again, this time down to 19.9%.
Another Mixed Bag for Paid Services
While Streaming didn’t see an increase during April, many individual streaming services did, including the market leader YouTube.
After increasing from 12.7% in February to 13.2% in March, YouTube saw its share increase to 13.4% in April.
Prime Video was another winner in April, with its total TV share increasing to 4.2%, up from 3.8% in March. According to Nielsen, Prime Video’s increase was boosted by NBA coverage along with the release of the final season of The Boys.
Warner Bros. Discovery was another positive in April. Continuing the trend of the past couple of months, WBD’s total TV share climbed to 1.5% in April, up from 1.3% in February and 1.4% in March.
Unfortunately for the remaining services, all of them lost share in April. Netflix was one of the worse hit, dropping to 7.8%, which was already down on 8.2% in March, and this was in turn down on 8.4% in February.
After climbing from 5% in February to 5.3% in March, Disney (Disney+, ESPN Select and Hulu), also saw its share drop in April, back down to 5% again.
Paramount (Paramount+ and Pluto TV) encountered a similar situation. After climbing from 2.1% in February to 2.2% in March, Paramount saw its share drop back down to 2.1% again.
Finally, Peacock. After a huge decline in March (dropping from 3% 1.8%), Peacock’s share declined again, this time down to 1.7%.
Free Services Continued Their Momentum
The two main free streaming services, The Roku Channel and Tubi, continued to perform well, either maintaining or increasing their share in April.
The Roku Channel, for example, saw its total TV share rise from 2.9% to 3% in March, and while it didn’t see any increase in April, it didn’t see any loss either, maintaining its 3% share.
Tubi, which had stagnated a little over the past couple of months, saw its share increase. After maintaining a 2.2% total TV share in February and March, the free streaming service’s share increased to 2.3% in April.
According to Nielsen, April marked a platform best for the ad-supported streaming service.
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