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Broadcast TV Viewership Surges 20% in September Amid Sports Boom
21 Oct
Summary
- Broadcast TV viewership spiked 20% in September
- Sports viewership tripled to 33% of broadcast's total
- Streaming still dominates with 45.2% share of TV viewing
In September 2025, broadcast TV experienced a remarkable resurgence, with viewership spiking 20% compared to the previous month. This surge was primarily driven by the return of the NFL and college football seasons, which tripled sports viewership to represent 33% of broadcast's total, up from 11% in August.
The increased sports viewership, particularly for 15 high-profile NFL telecasts, helped broadcast TV finish the month with a 22.3% share of overall television viewing, tying it with cable for the first time ever. This marked the largest monthly increase in volume and share for any category since Nielsen began tracking the data in May 2021.
Despite the gains in broadcast and cable, streaming continued to dominate TV usage, accounting for 45.2% of total watch time in September. However, the streaming category saw fewer billion-minute titles in Nielsen's weekly Streaming Top 10 compared to the previous month.
