Streaming hit a new record in December, accounting for 47.5% of all TV viewing, according to the latest edition of Nielsen‘s monthly Gauge report.
Three NFL games on Christmas Day contributed to the surge, drawing a collective 55.1 billion viewing minutes for three games available only on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
The record eclipsed the previous mark set last July and represented just the second time when a single day exceeded 50 billion minutes of streaming.
The NFL action was accompanied by new Stranger Things episodes on Netflix, pushing streaming to a 54% share of daily TV usage. Nielsen said the mark was the highest it had recorded for streaming since it began the Gauge in 2020. Streaming also topped 50% share on December 13, Nielsen said, with 50.4% of total viewing.
Netflix rode Stranger Things, which pulled in 15 billion viewing minutes, and the NFL to notch a 10% gain in viewing over November. Prime Video established a new record, gaining 12% over November levels thanks to four Thursday Night Football games as well as new episodes of Fallout.
The Roku Channel, often a top draw, climbed from November to hit a new all-time high at 3% of total TV viewing. Paramount+ and Pluto combined jumped 10% from November, driven by original series Landman.
Overall streaming usage was up 3% in December versus November, doubling the monthly increase of total TV usage. Four streaming platforms achieved personal bests this month, including:
With the NFL season coming down to the wire, broadcast TV viewership represented 21.4% of total TV watch-time in December, while cable accounted for 20.2%. Cable sports programming experienced a 16% viewing lift in December to represent 9% of total cable viewing. NFL games represented the top five cable telecasts this month, led by all four of the month’s Monday Night Football games on ESPN, followed by the NFL Network’s coverage of the Texans vs. Chargers matchup on December 27.
