YouTube Now Controls 9.7% of U.S. Television Usage, Nielsen Says

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Google’s ad-supported video business owned just a 6% market share in March of 2022, according to Nielsen’s latest ‘Gauge’ tracker

Person watching YouTube on a TV set
(Image credit: Nikos Pekiaridis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Connected TV usage of YouTube accounted for 9.7% of all U.S. TV viewing in March, according to Nielsen's latest monthly tube consumption tracker, The Gauge. 

That's up from 7.8% in March 2023 and 6% in March 2022. 

(Image credit: Nielsen)

Also read: Who's No. 1 in Subscription Streaming? Muddled Metrics Methodologies Make Matters Murky

We made an effort to better understand Nielsen's not-so-transparent methodologies  two years ago. We think we know that for The Gauge, the company is measuring "glass usage" (watching on actual TVs) among U.S. TV denizens age 2 and older, with viewership on virtual MVPDs not included in the tally. 

So we're talking about ad-supported YouTube programming here, not the YouTube TV virtual pay TV service. 

YouTube’s viewership share expansion has coincided with the overall growth of streaming, which accounted for 29.7% of all U.S. consumption two years ago, according to Nielsen, and reached 38.5% in March. 

Daniel Frankel
Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!