Broadcast viewership came “roaring back” in September, says Nielsen, as football drove an “unprecedented” monthly spike in watch-time for the category, the ratings company’s latest release of The Gauge shares.
The snapshot of total TV and streaming consumption shows that time spent watching broadcast programming increased by 20% from the traditionally soft month of August to September.
For all TV, this was a 3% gain. Additionally, broadcast concluded September with 22.3% of overall television viewing — putting it ahead of the cable category on an unrounded basis for the first time ever in The Gauge.
The jump for broadcast was attributable to NFL and college football. Sports viewership tripled to represent 33% of broadcast’s total in September, versus 11% in August. Some 15 telecasts this month—all NFL games, across CBS, FOX and NBC—outpaced last month’s most-watched telecast, with September’s biggest audience more than doubling it.
On cable, sports viewership increased by 11% in September, and NFL games also dominated the category’s most-watched telecasts. The top five cable telecasts this month included four Monday Night Football games on ESPN, plus the first international NFL game of the season on NFL Network. The primary driver of September cable viewing, however, was news, which increased 9% and represented over a quarter of the category’s viewing total.
Notably, viewing gains for broadcast and cable were driven primarily by younger audiences, indicating strong engagement with the expanded sports slate. The largest monthly increases for both categories came from 25-34 year-olds, as broadcast viewing among that group climbed 65%, and cable viewing was up 16%.
Streaming continued to dominate TV usage and owned 45.2% of total watch-time in September. The impact of football extended into streaming this month as well, most notably with Amazon Prime Video. The streamer notched its most-watched NFL Thursday Night Football game ever on the platform on September 11, as the Commanders-Packers matchup generated over 3 billion minutes viewed.
Although YouTube continued to feel the back-to-school impact from 6-17 year-olds, declining 2% versus August, it remained the most-watched streaming platform and represented 12.6% of television viewing in September. 
The September 2025 interval spanned four weeks, from 09/01/2025 through 09/28/2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.
