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Nielsen: Disney, Netflix Post Record January Household TV Market Shares
February 25, 2025
Disney topped all media companies with 12% of household TV consumption in January, according to Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge. The tally was the best monthly TV market share since the report was established in November 2023.
Disney’s success was primarily due to the college football playoffs, which represented the seven highest rated cable telecasts in January, and which upped overall ESPN viewership 84%. Overall, viewing to Disney-owned distribution channels increased 0.8 share points.
Netflix clinched its highest TV share to date with 8.6% of overall household viewing. The streamer followed a robust December with an even stronger January as its watch-time climbed 7%. This was due in large part to the ongoing popularity of South Korea’s dystopian drama “Squid Game,” which generated 9 billion viewing minutes as January’s top streaming title, in tandem with 11 other original series and movies that reached more than 1 billion viewing minutes each.
January TV viewing overall increased 5% driven by a busy news cycle, which featured a 26% uptick in cable news viewing, including a 26% surge for MSNBC, 29% for Fox News Channel and 39% for CNN. Fox News Channel ultimately provided the primary boost for Fox at the total distributor level with its coverage of the presidential inauguration. Overall, Fox was up 12% in January and tied Disney for the largest monthly viewing increase among distributors, finishing with 7.6% of total TV (+0.5 pt.).
Meanwhile, cable TV movie viewing in January dropped 22% versus December. This contributed to a loss of 0.6 share points for Hallmark, which had previously exhibited two consecutive monthly gains, leading it to finish the month with 1% of TV usage.
The January TV market share dates included Dec. 30, 2024, through Jan. 1, 2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar with measurement weeks that run Monday through Sunday.
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