YouTube has officially overtaken Disney in the battle for America’s living rooms—at least when it comes to how much time people spend watching television.
According to Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge for February, YouTube captured a record 11.6% share of total TV viewing, pushing Disney into second place with a 10% share. This marks YouTube’s highest TV share to date and the second time it has topped Nielsen’s charts since the gauge launched in late 2023.
This isn’t just a statistical blip—it’s a clear signal of where consumer attention is heading, and the shift is dramatic. For a platform that began life as a scrappy website for short, user-generated videos, YouTube’s leap to the top of the television heap is nothing short of a media transformation.
And it’s not happening quietly. Time spent watching YouTube on television screens has surged 53% in just two years. Among Americans aged 65 and older, that increase is an eye-popping 96%.
Nielsen’s data only measures what’s being watched on TV sets—not computers or phones. So this shift isn’t just about convenience or background noise. People are deliberately choosing to watch YouTube content on their primary screen. That choice speaks volumes.
Following Disney, the rest of the top five includes Fox (8.3%), Netflix (8.2%), and Paramount (8.2%), with NBCUniversal trailing just behind at 8.1%. But then the drop-off is steep—Warner Bros. Discovery sits at 6.1%, Amazon Prime Video at 3.5%, and the Roku Channel at 2.1%.
Meanwhile, traditional broadcast and cable television are in a tailspin. Broadcast viewership fell 10% in just one month, dropping to 21.2% of total TV usage. Cable wasn’t far behind, down 9% to 23.2%. Even sports, usually a ratings juggernaut, couldn’t stop the bleeding. Broadcast sports viewership dropped by 54%, and cable sports by 42% compared to January.
These aren’t seasonal fluctuations. They’re signs of structural change. Consumers are not just moving away from cable and traditional networks—they’re moving toward content ecosystems that offer more flexibility, more variety, and more control, often at zero cost beyond a basic internet connection.
In short, platforms like YouTube have become full-scale television alternatives. With millions of hours of content, from legacy films to independent creators, YouTube offers both breadth and specificity that traditional channels can’t match. And as more users discover the depth of content available—especially older audiences learning to navigate streaming interfaces—the shift accelerates.
