Streaming ended October 2025 with a total TV share of 45.7%, marking an increase on the previous month and a return to growth in general. Streaming’s bump in total TV share was largely credited to a surge in football viewership.
Key Takeaways
- Streaming’s total TV share rose to 45.7% in October 2025, driven largely by increased football viewership.
- While services like YouTube, Disney+, Peacock, and Paramount+ saw gains, Netflix and Prime Video saw their shares decline.
- Free streaming services saw little month-to-month change, with no change at all for The Roku Channel and a slight increase for Tubi.
After months of continual growth, Streaming’s total TV share declined in August, and this was followed by another decline in September 2025. With Streaming accounting for 45.7% of total TV viewership in October, the category saw a return to growth.
While not to the dizzy heights of the 47.3% Streaming registered in July, the category still saw a notable increase on September’s 45.2% total TV share.
Streaming’s increase was primarily fueled by an increase in football viewing, according to Nielsen, with Paramount+, Peacock, and Prime Video some of the notable beneficiaries (on select days).
It wasn’t just streaming that saw an increase last month. Broadcast’s total TV share rose from 22.3% in September to 22.9% in October, also the result in a surge of football viewership.
Although Cable also benefited from an increase in sports viewership last month, the category still saw an overall decline due to rounding, dropping down from 22.3% in September to 22.2% in October.
A Good Month For NFL Streaming Services
With a return to form for the Streaming category in general, many individual services also saw a return to growth. YouTube, for example, saw its share increase from September’s 12.6% to 12.9% in October.
Likewise, Disney (Disney+, ESPN Select and Hulu) saw its share increase to 4.8% (up from 4.5%), Peacock increased to 1.6% (up from 1.4%), and Paramount Streaming (Paramount+ and Pluto TV) increased to 2.1% (up from 2%).
However, it wasn’t the best month for all streaming services, with some non-NFL services encountering a decline. Notably, Netflix’s share decline to 8% (down from 8.3%) and Prime Video’s share decreased to 3.8% (from 3.9%).
Warner/Discovery (HBO Max and Discovery+) saw no month-to-month change in October, remaining at 1.3%, and down on August’s 1.4%.
Little Change For Free Streaming Services
With so much of October’s focus on football, it is not too surprising that there was very little change for the main free streaming services in October.
In terms of The Roku Channel, the free service saw no change at all. After rising to 2.8% in July, and remaining at 2.8% in both August and September, The Roku Channel’s share once again totaled 2.8% in October.
Tubi, on the other hand, did see a slight increase. After declining from 2.2% in August to 2.1% in September, the free streaming service increased back up to 2.2% in October.
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