YouTube just celebrated its 20th birthday with a bang—grabbing the No. 1 spot in Nielsen’s February 2025 Media Distributor Gauge with a record-breaking 11.6% share of U.S. TV usage. This milestone marks the second time YouTube has topped the rankings since Nielsen began tracking by media distributor in May 2023, and underscores the platform’s accelerating momentum in the living room.
The 11.6% figure is up 2% from January and represents YouTube’s best share to date. It’s an especially notable feat considering that Nielsen’s data only includes YouTube’s ad-supported, free content viewed via connected TVs—it excludes YouTube TV and all mobile viewing, which are significant parts of the broader YouTube ecosystem. Even without those pieces, YouTube still surged ahead of Disney, which slipped from 12% in January to 10% in February after benefiting from a strong football-fueled January that included both the NFL and College Football Playoffs.
Zooming out, YouTube’s CTV usage has grown 53% over the past two years, rising from a 7.9% share in February 2023 to 11.6% this year. The platform’s strength continues to be its diverse slate of creator-driven programming rather than reliance on traditional tentpole content.
One of the more fascinating shifts is in who’s watching. Viewing among adults aged 65 and older has nearly doubled since 2023—up 96%—and now represents 15.4% of YouTube’s TV usage, on par with kids aged 2–11, who account for 16.9%. YouTube’s living-room rise appears to be pulling in new audience segments and expanding its demographic footprint.
Meanwhile, Fox climbed from sixth to third place in the rankings thanks to a dominant February that included Super Bowl LIX, which drew 127.7 million viewers across platforms including Fox Broadcast and Tubi. That led to a jump in share from 7.6% in January to 8.3% in February. Fox also saw a 3% month-over-month increase in Fox News Channel viewing, accounting for 37% of its total usage. Fox Sports 1 viewership spiked 45%, driven by NASCAR.
It’s worth noting that while YouTube dominated the chart with 11.6%, this comes at a time when the platform is also driving strong business performance. Parent company Alphabet reported a record $10.5 billion in ad revenue from YouTube for the quarter ending December 31, 2024. Sports-related viewing is also helping boost engagement, with YouTube reporting 30% year-over-year growth in sports content viewing on CTVs and over 400 million hours of podcast consumption monthly in the living room.
YouTube’s current CTV moment isn’t just about scale—it’s about reach, consistency, and demographic diversification. This month’s chart-topper status wasn’t a fluke. It’s a result of sustained growth, changing consumer behavior, and a shift in how audiences define “TV.”
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