NEW YORK — Television viewership continued its seasonal momentum into October, with shifts largely attributable to the NFL, the October monthly report of Nielsen’s report known as “The Gauge” shows.
The dominant audience measurement and data analytics firm’s snapshot of total TV and streaming consumption affirms the National Football League’s massive popularity in the mid-2020s, with broadcast viewership up 4.3% from September.
As Nielsen sees it, the NFL is “distinguishing itself as the irrefutable multiplatform catalyst of the fall TV season.”
The impact of NFL coverage in October was most apparent when isolating viewership by day. Sundays exhibited the largest viewing shift across categories for the month, as broadcast averaged a 5.3-point gain to climb from an average of 22.0% of TV Monday through Saturday, to 27.3% of TV on Sundays. By contrast, cable and streaming viewership experienced the opposite effect, with watch-time up slightly Monday-Saturday and noticeably lower on Sundays.
|
October Total |
Monday – Saturday |
Sunday Only |
Share Difference |
|
|
Streaming |
45.7% |
45.9% |
44.6% |
-1.3 |
|
Broadcast |
22.9% |
22.0% |
27.3% |
5.3 |
|
Cable |
22.2% |
22.7% |
20.0% |
-2.7 |
Broadcast led all TV categories with a 4.3% monthly viewing gain in October, which resulted in 0.6 additional share points and 22.9% of television — building on its lead over cable and marking its largest share of TV since November 2024 (23.7%).
Despite a robust month, broadcast sports viewership was down compared to September (-6.4%) but still accounted for nearly a third of all broadcast viewing. NFL games on CBS, FOX and NBC claimed the top three overall program rankings with over 20 million viewers apiece (L+7).
The fall TV season continued to unfold in October as well, as broadcast drama viewership saw a 28% increase over September led by Tracker, Matlock, and NCIS on CBS; High Potential on ABC; and Chicago Fire on NBC, to represent the largest monthly gain within the category.
Streaming viewership was up 2.4% month-over-month, outpacing the increase in overall TV usage (+1.3%) to gain a half-point and represent 45.7% of TV watch-time in October. This growth was primarily fueled by the aforementioned surge in football viewing across key streaming platforms, and while most non-NFL streamers saw decreases on game days, Netflix bucked the trend and grew its share of TV on Sundays. Netflix netted out with 7.9% of TV in October, but on Sundays specifically, its share climbed to 8.2% of TV.
Cable watch-time in October tracked closely with overall usage (+1.2%), but the category’s share of TV slipped 0.1-point due to rounding to finish with 22.2% of total TV. Cable sports viewership increased nearly 50% versus September and represented 14% of the category’s viewing total. Feature films were a bright spot for cable this month, exhibiting a 7% monthly increase as viewers sought out their favorite spooky movies amid the Halloween season. Cable news continued to lead cable viewing and owned nearly a quarter of the category’s share despite a 3% drop from last month.
The October 2025 interval spanned four weeks, from 09/29/2025 through 10/26/2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.
