Older folks are turning YouTube into a TV giant

The phrase “don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe” is increasingly emanating from TV speakers. YouTube accounted for 11.6% of time spent watching television in February, coming in at #1 in Nielsen’s recently released February 2025 Media Distributor Gauge.

It’s the Google-owned platform’s best share of TV to date, and the second time it’s topped the overall distributor list––ahead of Netflix, NBC, etc.––since Nielsen began tracking the data in November 2023.

Oldies have been goodies

YouTube’s performance last month was fueled in part by a group surprising to many analysts–– those old enough to remember when bell bottoms first became a thing.

• YouTube's TV viewing among adults 65+ has nearly doubled in the last two years (up 96%), with the demographic now representing a contribution similar to that from kids 2-11 (15.4% vs. 16.9%).
• YouTube viewership among 50-64-year-olds grew 62% in the same timeframe.

Big picture: YouTube TV viewership is rising, up 53% over the past two years. Meanwhile, Fox moved into third place behind Disney in February––its highest ranking to date––claiming 8.3% of US TV use, thanks in large part to a record-setting Super Bowl.