Cable’s share of total TV viewing in March got a boost from the NCAA’s basketball tournaments, per new data from the Nielsen Gauge. The medium had 24% of TV usage last month, boosted by a 29% lift in cable sports viewing (and more strong cable news network viewership). Cable TV’s figure is up from 23.2% last month, but well below the 28.3% during March 2024.
Broadcast TV accounted for 20.5% of TV viewing, which is the medium’s lowest figure since July 2024. Streaming had its best figure yet at 43.8% (YouTube on its own hit 12% in March). After YouTube, in terms of share of streaming, were Netflix (7.9%), Disney (a combo of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ at 5%) and Prime Video (3.5%).
The Netflix comedy series “Running Point,” which debuted on the final days of February and is loosely based on the Lakers’ Buss family, was the seventh-best title across all streaming services in terms of 3.7 billion total minutes viewed (just behind Disney+’s “Moana 2” at 3.9 billion minutes).
