YouTube Is Running Away From Netflix as Nielsen’s Latest Gauge Shows the Streaming Gap Nearly Doubling

The battle for America’s TV screens has been shifting for a while now, and YouTube’s lead over Netflix keeps getting harder to ignore. Each month, Nielsen breaks down how Americans spend their time in front of the television, splitting viewing across broadcast, cable, streaming, and “other,” and then ranking the biggest platforms. For most of this year, YouTube has comfortably held the top spot, with Netflix trailing in second.

Summer gave a clear preview of where things were heading. In the July edition of the report, YouTube led individual streaming platforms with a 14.2% share of TV viewing, nearly double Netflix’s 7.8%. August, though, came with an extra twist, as the World Cup wrapped up and kids headed back to school, causing total TV usage to fall 4.4% after a 2-month surge fueled by the tournament.

That seasonal cooldown didn’t slow YouTube down one bit. According to Nielsen‘s August report, released October 22, the platform captured a record 15.8% of all TV viewing as its monthly usage climbed 6%. Netflix, meanwhile, finished second among individual streamers with a 7.7% share.

The year-over-year comparison is where the story really sharpens. In August of last year, YouTube held 13.1% of viewing while Netflix sat at 8.7%. That means YouTube gained 2.7 percentage points over the past year while Netflix lost a full point, stretching YouTube’s lead from 4.4 points to 8.1.

So what’s fueling YouTube’s continued climb? While viewing among 6- to 17-year-olds took a hit from the back-to-school shift, YouTube benefited from a 9% jump in viewing among adults 50 and older. Tubefilter noted that back-to-school season has dented YouTube’s numbers in previous years, but growing interest from older audiences, including podcast consumption, helped offset that this time.

YouTube is pulling further away from Netflix in latest Nielsen Gauge report, luring 15.8% of viewing (vs. 13.1% last August) compared to 7.7% for Netflix (8.7% last August)… https://t.co/BInieWhKXB

— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) October 22, 2026

Netflix’s softer month didn’t come as a total surprise either. The Desk reported that Netflix executives acknowledged engagement waned during the summer months in a video interview following the company’s third quarter earnings report.

Beyond the top 2, the rest of the field looks far more crowded. Disney’s streaming platforms, including Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, combined for 4.8%, followed by Prime Video at 4.2%, The Roku Channel at 2.9%, and Paramount at 2.3%. Tubi landed at 1.9%, Peacock at 1.6%, and Warner Bros. Discovery at 1.4%, with other streaming services accounting for 7.1%.

Streaming as a whole also had a notable month. Even though overall streaming usage dropped 3.2%, that decline was smaller than the drop in total TV usage, allowing the category to grab 49.6% of all viewing. Cable held 18.9%, broadcast came in at 17.5%, and the “other” category made up 14%.

In Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge, which groups platforms by parent company, YouTube kept its lead while Disney returned to No. 2. Despite finishing second among individual streamers, Netflix ranked third among media distributors for the month.

There’s an important caveat attached to these numbers. The August data doesn’t reflect Nielsen’s one-time methodology adjustment, which kicks in starting with September’s viewership figures. The change has been controversial, with Nielsen delaying its February report earlier this year amid frustration from streamers over new data from the Advertising Research Foundation.

Some analysts expect the recalibrated estimates to show streaming with less dominance compared to broadcast and cable. Whether that reshapes the YouTube-versus-Netflix story remains to be seen, but for now, the gap between the 2 platforms has never looked wider.

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