Ad-supported streaming scored a record-high 46.6% share in the first quarter, driven by sports programming including NBCUniversal’s Super Bowl simulcast, Peacock’s Olympics coverage and Amazon’s NFL playoff games, as well as popular series such as Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” Paramount+’s “Landman” and HBO Max’s “The Pitt.”
Meanwhile, broadcast captured a 28.2% share of ad-supported TV, down 1.4 share points from the fourth quarter of 2025 and down 0.5 points year over year. Cable rebounded to a 25.2% share, up 0.4 points from the previous quarter, driven by the Winter Olympics and March Madness.
In total, ad-supported TV accounted for a 72.8% share in the first quarter, compared with 27.2% for non-ad-supported TV. The fourth quarter remained the high-water mark at 74.2%, with less than a 1.8-point difference between the highest and lowest quarters.
The update on ad-supported TV viewing comes as YouTube reclaimed the top spot in Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge with a 13.5% share of TV viewing in March. However, total time spent streaming during the month fell 7% to a share of 47.6%, while broadcast and cable finished the month with shares of 20.3% and 21.4%, respectively.
Cable was the only category to record a monthly viewing increase in March, resulting in its largest share since October 2025. The increase was driven by cable news, which represented 29% of the category’s viewership for the month, and the return of the NCAA basketball tournaments.
The quarter’s results do not reflect Nielsen’s migration to the Ad Research Foundation’s DASH-based media universe estimates, which is planned for this fall.
