Nielsen: YouTube was the top TV distributor in February 2025, making up 11.6% of all US TV; over-50s viewers accounted for 36% of time spent watching it on TVs
and it's another alarm bell for Hollywood Sam Gutelle / Tubefilter : Seniors are watching twice as much YouTube on TVs as they were a year ago John Nolte / Breitbart : Disney Loses Top Spot in TV Viewing to YouTube Daniel Frankel / StreamTV Insider : February marked YouTube's biggest share of monthly US TV usage ever George Winslow / TV Tech : YouTube Sees Record Viewing, Beats Disney in TV Viewing Share Bruce Gil / Quartz : Netflix, YouTube, Disney and more: The 8 most-watched platforms in February Radio & Television Business Report : A Big February For YouTube, Says Nielsen Nielsen : YouTube Achieves Best Monthly Performance to Date and Pulls Ahead in Nielsen's February Media Distributor Gauge Matthew Keys / The Desk : YouTube tops Disney in Nielsen's Media Distributor Gauge Mansha Daswani / WORLD SCREEN : Nielsen's Gauge: YouTube Expands TV Viewing Share Erik Gruenwedel / Media Play News : Nielsen: YouTube, Fox Topped February Household TV Penetration, Driven by Older Viewers Luke Bouma / Cord Cutters News : YouTube Dominated TV Viewership With a Record 11.6% Share of TV Viewing Bigger Than Disney, Netflix, & More Dade Hayes / Deadline : YouTube Unseats Disney Atop Nielsen's February TV Distributor Rankings X: Colin Lewis / @colinalewis : Riddle me this: why do all/most brands talk about targetting “Gen Z”, yet there is still so many ‘takes’ about linear TV ‘building’ brands. Date from Nielsen: “YouTube's largest share remains viewers 18-34 — at 21%, up 48% since February 2023.” Make it make sense. @nielsen : NEW 📺: @YouTube hits a platform-best with 11.6% share of TV, taking the top spot, while FOX jumps into the top 3 for the first time boosted by the Super Bowl & cable news. Get all the details in our February Media Distributor Gauge https://nlsn.co/... [image] See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
YouTube’s rise on television screens has been building: Nielsen put it at roughly 10% of connected and traditional TV viewing in May 2024, ahead of Netflix, following the earlier milestone when streaming first surpassed cable and broadcast in US viewing share. February’s result turns that trajectory into a distributor-ranking change, with YouTube moving ahead of Disney.
The audience mix matters as much as the ranking. Earlier coverage showed YouTube gaining share among children; the current gauge shows its TV usage also extends materially into the over-50 audience, while 18–34 viewing has grown sharply since 2023.
First-order effects
- YouTube becomes Nielsen’s leading US TV distributor for February, with 11.6% of viewing, displacing Disney at the top of the gauge.
- The platform’s TV-screen position is supported by a broad age base: viewers 50 and older supplied 36% of its TV watch time, while 18–34 viewing increased 48% versus February 2023.
Second-order effects
- Disney and other TV distributors face a clearer benchmark: YouTube is competing for the same television-screen attention across both younger and older households, not solely as a youth-oriented streaming destination.
- Month-to-month distributor rankings can remain sensitive to programming concentration: Fox’s rise into the top three, aided by the Super Bowl and cable news, contrasts with YouTube’s broad, ongoing viewing base.
Third-order effects
- If YouTube sustains this cross-generational TV usage, the line between a video platform and a conventional TV distributor will keep weakening; audience-share comparisons will increasingly center on screen time rather than legacy distribution categories.
- The broader shift is toward TV as an access layer for multiple video catalogs and formats, where durable share depends on habitual availability across audiences rather than a single scheduled hit.
The trend: This is one data point in the shift of television viewing power from scheduled networks to platform-led, cross-generational video ecosystems.