THR reports that December 25, 2025 marked an all-time high for streaming figures, as per Nielsen.
Streaming usage broke records over Christmas with 55.1 billion minutes logged across all major platforms, marking an increase of 3.9 billion from the previous year—which was, at the time, the highest amount ever recorded.
This is a record-breaking accomplishment for streaming, which totalled over 54% of all television usuge throughout the day. December 13 was another impressive day, with streaming taking up more than 50% of television hours. In the U.S, streaming hours averaged 47.5% of audiences’ TV habits throughout December.
What Caused Streaming’s Festive Success?
One of the biggest contributors to this sharp increase in streaming usage throughout the festive period was Stranger Things, which aired its final season in three installments and dominated pop culture discourse throughout December. Netflix reports that Stranger Things5 accumulated 105.7 million views in total, making it the streamer’s ninth-most popular English-language series ever.
Netflix and Prime Video also aired highly anticipated NFL games on Christmas Day, which helped the two streamers reach a combined 22.5% of all television watched that day—and 42% of all streaming hours.
The second season of Landman was another huge contributor to this streaming spike, pulling in 6.2 billion minutes of viewing throughout December. And yet this was still less than half of what Stranger Things 5 managed with 15 billion minutes.
Within the world of streaming, YouTube remained the top platform throughout December with 12.7% of all minutes watched. Netflix followed closely behind with 9%, while Disney Plus and Prime Video pulled in 4.7% and 4.3%, respectively. Warner Bros. Discovery finished last among the nine major streaming platforms amid its public acquisition with Netflix, accumulating 1.4% of viewership.
