How Netflix and Other Streamers Reached Record Ratings in December

Streamers had a festive holiday season full of football and blockbusters.

According to Nielsen ratings from its Gauge December 2024 report (which accounts for viewership from Nov. 25 through Dec. 29), TV viewing was up 4% month over month, with streamers gaining a big share of audience time.

Linear still outperformed streaming in terms of individual broadcasts, with Fox’s Thanksgiving game between the Giants vs. Cowboys attracting 38.5 million viewers; however, several streamers reached (or were near) record highs. Along with a 7.6% increase in November, streaming viewership rose another 9% in December, and the category secured a new record with 43.4% of total TV watch time.

Netflix was a big winner, with the fifth and sixth top telecasts of the month thanks to its NFL Christmas Day games, both of which earned over 23 million viewers. The streamer accounted for 8.5% of total TV viewing last month, which tied its platform-best share, which was set in July 2023. With the help of the Christmas Day games, Netflix had a 14% month-over-month boost.

Speaking ahead of Netflix’s earnings on Tuesday, Mike Proulx, Forrester vp, research director, shed light on the streamer’s strong Q4.

“Netflix has a lot to tout coming off a Q4 with a number of key milestones that by no coincidence all involve sports,” Proulx said, adding that the company will likely promote “a lot more live programming events over the course of 2025.”

According to the Gauge, calculations showed the streaming service’s monthly usage would have been up 11% even if contributions from the games were not included. Netflix saw a boost from its action thriller film Carry-On starring Taron Egerton, which generated 5.2 billion viewing minutes from the Dec. 13 through Dec. 29 period and became the third-most streamed title during that time. Squid Game Season 2 also accounted for 4.9 billion viewing minutes in the final week of the period, the highest weekly total for any streaming title last year.

Additionally, nearly all reported streaming platforms exhibited gains. YouTube was up 9%, pushing the platform to a record 11.1% share of TV usage. Meanwhile, Prime Video reached a platform-best 4.0% share of TV since it hosted five NFL Thursday Night Football games, including one on Black Friday during the December interval. The platform also had a boost from blockbuster flick Red One, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Chris Evans, and original reality series Beast Games, starring popular YouTube creator Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, which had 700 million viewing minutes across its first three episodes.

Showing the strength of streaming beyond live events, Max received an 18% monthly viewing increase in December, the largest across all streaming platforms. Those upticks were driven by its library of shows such as The Big Bang Theory, Friends, and Dune: Prophecy.

Broadcast and cable largely relied on football in December, with each seeing increases in sports viewership of 17% and 29%, respectively, due to the NFL, college bowl games, and the first round of college football playoffs. Cable also received an 18% bump in feature film viewing.

However, both broadcast and cable had to also contend with seasonal-related declines. Broadcast networks withdrew from scripted dramas during the holiday season, which resulted in an 18% dip in that genre, and cable news, after the presidential election cycle, dropped by 27%, according to the report.

Overall, broadcast and cable viewing accounted for 22.4% and 23.8% of December TV watch time, respectively, and 46.2% of TV viewing combined.