YouTube Captures 13.4% of TV Viewing in Sixth Consecutive Month as the Top Media Distributor
Netflix Maintains Top 3 Ranking with Platform-Best 8.8% of TV
Hallmark Gets a Boost from Annual ‘Christmas in July’
NEW YORK – August 26, 2025 – YouTube continued its streak as TV’s leading media distributor in July, which marked its sixth consecutive month atop Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge report. YouTube captured 13.4% of TV watch-time and widened its lead over second-place Disney (9.4%) by 4.0 share points, establishing the largest lead by a media company to date since Nielsen began the Media Distributor Gauge calculations in November 2023.
As reported in Nielsen’s The Gauge™, pure-play streamers continued to benefit from the summer lull in traditional TV viewing, as Netflix and The Roku Channel also set platform high water marks in July. Netflix maintained its ranking among the top three media distributors this month by adding half a share point over June to finish with 8.8% of TV. Driven by a steady flow of new releases across original and acquired titles, Netflix boasted the largest volume gain across all streaming platforms this month, increasing its average minute audience by an additional 215,000 viewers compared to June. It was also the only streaming platform to exhibit an increase across all viewing demographic categories month over month. The Roku Channel notched 2.8% of TV in July (+0.3 pt.) and notably exhibited the largest monthly usage increase across all streaming platforms with a 7.5% lift vs. June.
Meanwhile, Amazon captured 3.9% of TV to put it within striking distance of its previous platform-best share of 4.0% set in December 2024. Amazon demonstrated the power of a diverse content slate as its gains were driven by two originals with distinctly different audiences: the Bosch spinoff, Ballard, attracted viewers over 50 and garnered 2.5 billion minutes viewed, and new episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty resonated with the 12-24 year-old demographic and totaled 1.5 billion minutes. This performance is part of a longer-term trend for the platform, which has seen its share of TV viewing increase 62% since July 2021 through steady and consistent growth.
Hallmark climbed to 1.1% of TV and moved up a slot in the rankings among distributors. Hallmark was boosted by its annual “Christmas in July” programming on The Hallmark Channel, where new premieres, including the four-part Unwrapping Christmas movies and holiday series Holidazed and Christmas at Sea, resulted in a 19% viewership bump for the network.
Looking ahead, the seasonal shift from summer to fall will begin to take effect in the coming months as the return of major sports and a new broadcast season will have key impacts on media distributors and audiences alike over the next several months.
The July 2025 interval included dates 06/30/2025 through 07/27/2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar with measurement weeks that run Monday through Sunday.
About The Gauge™
The Gauge™ is Nielsen’s monthly snapshot of total broadcast, cable and streaming consumption that occurs through a television screen, providing the industry with a holistic look at what audiences are watching. The Gauge was expanded in April 2024 to include The Media Distributor Gauge, which reflects total viewing by media distributor across these categories. Read more about The Gauge methodology and FAQs.
About Nielsen
Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences—now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).
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