YouTube Achieves Highest Viewership In April, per Nielsen

Platform

Nielsen Data Show YouTube Getting Its Highest Viewership In April For The Third Consecutive Month

Published on May 26, 2025

YouTube reached a platform-best 12.4% of total TV viewing time in April, marking its third consecutive month of record viewership, according to Nielsen’s latest report of The Gauge™.

The Google-owned video platform gained 0.4 percentage points over March and has added 1.6 points to its TV share since January 2025. Year-over-year, YouTube’s share has increased by 2.8 percentage points from April 2024.

This growth comes as streaming reached a record high of 44.3% of total TV viewing in April, up half a percentage point from March and 1.7 points from January.

Image source: The Gauge™

Streaming usage has increased 15% compared to April 2024, gaining 5.9 share points, while broadcast has declined 7% (losing 1.4 share points) and cable has dropped 16% (losing 4.6 share points). Combined, broadcast and cable now represent 45.3% of viewing time, only slightly ahead of streaming’s 44.3% share.

This growth positions YouTube ahead of Netflix and Disney as the top streaming platform in Nielsen’s April report, continuing its dominance from February when it first claimed the top position in the Media Distributor Gauge.

Demographics, Content Trends, and Revenue Growth

YouTube’s audience composition has grown significantly among older viewers. According to Nielsen’s February data, viewing from adults aged 65+ nearly doubled over the past two years, increasing 96% since February 2023. The 65+ demographic now represents 15.4% of YouTube’s audience.

TV screens have become the primary viewing medium for YouTube in the United States, with viewers watching over 1 billion hours of YouTube content on TVs daily, according to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan.

YouTube is already the second-largest media company by revenue, generating $54.2 billion in 2024, and is poised to overtake Disney as the largest media company by revenue by the end of 2025, according to research from Wall Street firm MoffettNathanson.

If YouTube were a standalone business, MoffettNathanson estimates its worth between $475 billion and $550 billion, representing approximately 30% of Alphabet’s current valuation.