Nielsen: YouTube grows to 13.4% TV share, Fox-Roku deal would rank third

August 16, 2026 · mediapost.com

Nielsen's June 25 report on TV distributor market share puts YouTube at 13.4%, a full point above the same period last year and the platform's largest share to date. Walt Disney fell to 10.3% from 10.7%, NBCUniversal and Versant Media combined for 8.2% (5.9% and 2.3% respectively), Paramount Skydance dropped a full point to 7.9%, Netflix rose to 7.8% from 7.5%, and Fox Corp edged up to 6.9% from 6.8%. Nielsen also modeled Fox's proposed acquisition of Roku: a combined company would hold a 9.9% share, enough for third place behind Disney, up from the 9.2% the two firms would have posted a year earlier.

Reach planning built around linear schedules keeps losing ground as broadcast dropped below 20% of total TV usage for the first time in April, at 19.9%, while streaming climbed to 47.6% and cable fell to 21.6%. A completed Fox-Roku merger would hand one company a share close to Disney's, giving buyers a third major streaming-first partner to negotiate deals and measurement with, alongside continued growth at YouTube, Netflix and Prime Video.