Video sharing platform YouTube has continued its inexorable expansion into the traditional TV space, according to US ratings analyst Nielsen.
In February 2025, the Google-owned platform took 11.6% share of US TV viewing, according to Nielsen’s monthly Media Distributor Gauge. This was up an impressive 2% on January. Buoyed up by a rise in Connected TV penetration and a shift in audience viewing patterns, this marks YouTube’s best share of TV to date.
Nielsen said YouTube has exhibited steady usage increases for some time. A longer-term look at the platform’s growth illustrates that time spent watching YouTube on television is up 53% versus two years ago in February 2023, and its share of TV has grown from 7.9% to 11.6% in that time. “Additionally,” said Nielsen, “the overall viewing bump has been increasingly driven by older audiences. Viewing from adults aged 65+ has nearly doubled in the last two years (+96%), and the demographic now represents a viewing contribution similar to that from kids 2-11 (15.4% vs. 16.9%).
Most of the other major performers in Nielsen’s data are as you’d expected – a combination of streamers and Hollywood studios. But coming in at ninth position in February was Roku with 2.1%. This is a useful indicator of how FAST and AVOD are also beginning to work their way into the mainstream viewing market.
