Nielsen: Streaming Surpassed Cable and Broadcast Combined in May

Nielsen's The Gauge™ provides a monthly snapshot of consumer viewing behavior. More to the point, it documents the trend over time away from traditional sources – "cable" and broadcasting – toward streaming options. Over the last four years, I have highlighted a few noteworthy milestones on that path:

• In "Nielsen: Viewership of Streaming Video Has Surpassed That of Broadcast Television," a June 2021 post to the FSF Blog, I noted that, in May 2021, consumers for the first time spent more time watching streaming services (26 percent) than broadcast television (25 percent).

• In September 2022's "A Tale of Two Trends: Traditional Video Distributors Shrink While Streaming Video Grows," a Perspectives from FSF Scholars, I pointed out that, as cable subscriber losses approached 1 million (949,209) during the second quarter of 2022, streaming for the first time exceeded one-third of total viewing.

• In an October 2022 post to the Free State Foundation blog, I reported that, in September 2022, for the first time streaming (36.9 percent) surpassed cable (33.8 percent).

The zero-sum ascendence of streaming continues: according to the most recent edition of The Gauge, in May 2025 streaming (44.8 percent) for the first time exceeded cable and broadcast television combined (44.2 percent):

In a Perspectives published earlier this month, I wrote that "[f]ar from raising competitive concerns, the Charter-Cox merger appears to represent a pragmatic effort to accelerate the modernization of legacy cable offerings to a world where video competition is both fierce and consumer-driven." This latest data point from The Gauge serves to underscore that conclusion.