Television viewing climbed to a 12-month high in January 2026, with overall viewing up 3.7% over December 2025.
This, says Nielsen, was fueled by a 9% monthly increase in cable viewership — in combination with major sports events, returning broadcast dramas and winter weather that kept audiences in front of their TVs.
That’s the overall assessment from the January 2026 edition of The Gauge, Nielsen’s snapshot of total TV and streaming consumption.
Cable captured the largest monthly viewing increase across The Gauge in January and represented 21.2% of total TV (+1.0 pt.).
Cable sports viewing surged 49% over December, propelled by ESPN’s coverage of the College Football Playoffs, which included the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship games. ESPN alone saw an 82% monthly viewing uptick.
Meanwhile, cable news benefited from an active news cycle in January and rose 13% versus December, largely driven by a 17% viewership gain for FOX News Channel, plus a 29% gain for CNN. Notably, ESPN and FOX News Channel each represented 2.2% of total TV usage in January, and together, the two networks comprised 21% of this month’s cable viewing.
Sports remained the anchor for broadcast viewership in January as football continued to dominate the category. NFL games accounted for the top 15 broadcast telecasts, and the sports genre represented the largest share of the category’s viewership (30%).
Broadcast dramas were also on the rise (up 24% vs. December), and “High Potential” on ABC emerged as the most-watched drama program of the month. Similar to cable, the busy news cycle boosted broadcast news viewing by 10% compared to last month, led by “ABC World News Tonight.”
Overall, broadcast viewership was up 4.2% versus December and represented 21.5% of TV.
Following record viewing levels in December, streaming proved its resilience in January. Time spent streaming increased 2.7% month-over-month and the category continued to represent the lion’s share of TV usage with 47.0%.
Across the category, Netflix mirrored the resilience of streaming following its best monthly performance to date. The platform achieved a steady 1% viewing increase (8.8% of TV) versus December, and owned the top streaming program for a second consecutive month, as Stranger Things tallied 15.4 billion viewing minutes in January.
Peacock viewership was up 10% in January, bringing the streamer to 1.8% of TV. Peacock’s monthly uptick was driven primarily by the new season of its original series “The Traitors,” and by audiences watching simulcasts of NFL games carried on NBC.
Across the free ad-supported streaming platforms, Tubi and The Roku Channel each claimed monthly increases. Tubi was up 6% versus December to notch 2.1% of TV, and Roku Channel increased 5% to maintain its platform-best 3.0% share of TV for a second consecutive month.
The January 2026 interval spanned four weeks, from 12/29/2025 through 01/25/2026. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.
