Nielsen released its latest edition of The Gauge today, and YouTube continues to dominate the streaming category. In fact, it cornered an impressive 9.7% of all TV usage in the US this March—the largest share recorded by a streamer since the launch of this monthly report on broadcast, cable and streaming consumption back in May 2021.

Streaming accounted for 38.5% of March viewing, finishing well above cable (28.3%), broadcast (22.5%) and other (10.7%). And in another show of strength and longevity, streaming is the only category to record a year-over-year uptick, increasing its share by 12% compared to March 2023. (But Nielsen notes that some of this growth comes from FAST channel providers like Pluto, Roku and Tubi, where a considerable amount of cable network content lives.)

Trailing just behind YouTube was Netflix (8.1%), with strong momentum in the period driven by new originals such as Avatar: The Last Airbender. This live-action adaptation of a popular Nickelodeon anime series debuted on February 22 and generated roughly 20 million views for the week ending March 3.

Overall, there was a 3% drop in total TV usage this month compared to February, but this is in line with typical seasonal declines. Broken down by category, broadcast was down by 6%, compared to a softer 1% dip for streaming. 

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