More people are now watching streaming rather than broadcast TV

[mahatmakanejeeves]

More people are now watching streaming rather than broadcast TV

Luke Lukert | [e-mail]
June 18, 2025, 4:35 PM

For the first time in its ratings Nielsen reported that more Americans watched television through streaming in the month of May than through traditional broadcast or cable.

According to its monthly reporting, Nielsen showed 44.8% of TV viewing came from streaming, which is the largest share to date. Broadcast and cable combined pulled 44.2% of TV viewing.

But streaming may not be able to hold the top spot from here on out, according to University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism lecturer Tom Bettag. He said that traditional TV won’t go down without a fight.

“Come football season and everybody is getting into the World Series, it will shift back, but this tells us where the future is; and yes, there’ll be a temporary slide back. But this is inevitable,” Bettag said.

{snip}

Luke Lukert
Since joining WTOP Luke Lukert has held just about every job in the newsroom from producer to web writer and now he works as a full-time reporter. He is an avid fan of UGA football. Go Dawgs!
[e-mail]

[Clouds Passing]

1. Broadcast TV is very little real content peppered in between hours of ads.