Christmas Day is Most-Streamed Day Ever with 55 Billion+ Viewing Minutes, led by NFL on Netflix and Prime Video
Netflix (9.0%), Prime Video (4.3%), Paramount Streaming (2.5%) and The Roku Channel (3.0%) Each Achieve Platform-Best Shares of TV
‘Stranger Things’ Generates Over 15 billion Viewing Minutes on Netflix as December’s Top Streaming Title
‘Tracker’ and ‘60 Minutes’ on CBS Draw Largest Non-Sports Audiences on Broadcast with Over 10 million Viewers Each
NEW YORK – January 20, 2026 – Streaming viewership captured 47.5% of television in December 2025, eclipsing its previous record set in July 2025 to achieve the largest share of TV ever reported in Nielsen’s The Gauge™, the media industry’s leading snapshot of total TV and streaming consumption. Streaming dominance in December was anchored by a historic Christmas Day in which streaming usage surged to 55.1 billion viewing minutes, shattering the previous single-day streaming record by 8% (12/25/2024, 51.2 billion minutes), and marking just the second time in TV history where daily streaming volume exceeded 50 billion minutes.
The huge day of streaming viewership was driven by back-to-back NFL games on Netflix, strategically followed by the highly anticipated release of new Stranger Things episodes, in addition to Prime Video’s late NFL game. Combined, Netflix and Prime Video commanded 22.5% of total TV usage across the day. Meanwhile, streaming levels overall on Christmas Day swelled to an unprecedented 54% of daily TV usage, the largest single-day share of TV ever recorded by the category. Streaming’s dominance in December was further evidenced by the fact that the category exceeded 50% of daily TV usage twice, having occurred for the first time ever on Saturday, December 13 when streaming represented 50.4% of TV.
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:
- Netflix, 9.0% of TV: Netflix viewership was up 10% month-over-month, with increases largely driven by Stranger Things, which generated over 15 billion viewing minutes and was December’s most-watched streaming title.
- Prime Video, 4.3% of TV: Prime Video surged 12% versus last month and exceeded its previous platform record by 0.3 share points. Prime Video’s increases were driven by four NFL Thursday Night Football games, including a record-setting Christmas Day game, as well as new episodes of its original series Fallout.
- The Roku Channel, 3.0% of TV: The free ad-supported streamer added 0.1 share point from November to secure an all-time monthly high.
- Paramount Streaming, 2.5% of TV: Led by the 6.2 billion viewing minutes generated by its original series Landman on Paramount+ (December’s No. 2 most-watched streaming title), Paramount Streaming was up 10% versus November to hit a collective 2.5% share of TV (Paramount+ and Pluto).
Across traditional TV, broadcast viewership represented 21.4% of total TV watch-time in December, while cable accounted for 20.2%. CBS and FOX secured the top broadcast programs in December, led by FOX’s Eagles vs. Bills NFL matchup on December 28, followed by the Steelers vs. Lions on CBS on December 21. CBS also owned the top non-sports programs of the month with Tracker and 60 Minutes, each capturing over 10 million viewers (L+7) and the largest non-sports program audiences.
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 December interval’s Monday Night Football games on ESPN, followed by the NFL Network’s coverage of the Texans vs. Chargers matchup on December 27.
The December 2025 interval spanned five weeks, from 12/01/2025 through 12/28/2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.
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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Lauren Pabst
lauren.pabst@nielsen.com
