YouTube Viewership on TV Screens Sees Boost in April

Already one of the most popular streaming platforms on television, YouTube saw a big increase on it’s existing lead as one of the only major services to experience an increase in viewing time among US households, according to Nielsen (h/t Variety).

During the period of March 27th- April 30th, the television viewing of YouTube videos, excluding YouTube TV, saw an increase of 1.5% which translated into an increase of 0.3 share points, with YouTube ending the month with 8.1% of total time spent watching television per Nielsen data.

In an interesting twist, platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video, Peacock and Hulu all saw time spent viewing either flat or was down compared to the month prior (March 2023).

In addition to YouTube, two free, ad-supported TV (FAST) services had month-over-month gains such as Fox’s Tubi, which was up 6% from March, adding 0.1 share point to capture 1.1% of overall TV viewing, and Paramount’s Pluto TV (a free television app) which noted that viewing increased 3.9% for the month to hold at 0.8% share, per the report.

Here is a total breakdown of the top streaming platforms in the month of April in terms of time spent viewing:

YouTube (8.1%), Netflix (6.9%), Hulu (3.3%), Amazon’s Prime Video (2.8%), Disney+ (1.8%), HBO Max (1.2%), Peacock (1.1%), Tubi (1.1%) and Pluto TV (0.8%). Broadcast TV networks held 23.1% share and cable had 31.5% among U.S. TV households in April, via data from Nielsen.

YouTube continues to ride the wave of success that creators such as MrBeast and Rhett & Link have provided.