By Mallory Mattingly
Streaming set another record for April, but linear TV still has its place.
According to Nielsen’s April The Gauge Report, streaming accounted for 44.3% of people’s TV time. That’s a 15% increase from last April and a half percentage point from March 2025. Broadcast and cable combined pulled 45.3% of April TV viewing, a drop of 7% for broadcast and 16% for cable for the same period last year.
GREY’S ANATOMY led the charge last month as it racked up 3.9 billion viewing minutes across Hulu and Netflix.
“Season 21 streams exclusively on Hulu and accounted for 10% of GREY’S ANATOMY total streaming viewership this month, despite representing just 3% of its episode count. Netflix represented about 60% of its streaming total this month,” the report said.
Max hit a new high with THE WHITE LOTUS garnering 3.7 billion viewing minutes on the platform, claiming “the second most-watched streaming title this month. This consecutive monthly boost from THE WHITE LOTUS helped WBD’s streaming offering maintain its 1.5% share of total TV in April.”
YouTube, meanwhile, accounted for 12.4% of total TV watch time, according to Deadline, up 2.8 points since April 2024.
Sports, once again, kept broadcast TV afloat as the men’s NCAA basketball tournament championship game garnered 18.3 million viewers on CBS. Viewership for the Master’s golf tournament also increased 36% compared to last year.
Deadline also noted, “ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage helped cable gain half a share point from March.”
GREY’S ANATOMY’s dominance last month isn’t surprising. Former star Ellen Pompeo previously said that fans love the “repetitive nature” and “familiarity” of the show, “so we can’t change it too much.”
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The actress left the show in 2023, but her 21 seasons on it allowed her to give her family a “happy home.”
“I made choices to stay on the show,” Pompeo explained on the “Jemele Hill Is Unbothered” podcast. “For me…a healthy home life was more important than a career. I didn’t grow up with a particularly happy childhood. So the idea that I have this great husband and these three beautiful children and a happy home life was really something I needed to complete, to close the hole in my heart.
“And so I made a decision to make money, and not chase creative acting roles. I don’t like chasing anything ever, and acting to me, in my experience, was a lot of chasing. Although I produce, and it’s the same kind of thing, I think I do it from a place of, I’m never that thirsty because I’m financially set,” she added.
Streaming continues to set new records month after month as broadcast and cable rely on sporting events to pull viewers.
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