Comparisons

Streaming reached 48.2% of ad-supported TV viewing in the US in the second quarter of 2026, up 1.6 points from the first quarter. That figure comes from Nielsen's Q2 2026 Ad Supported Gauge, published August 25. Over the same period, cable held steady at 25.2% and broadcast rose to 26.6%, helped by major live sports events. Ad-supported viewing as a whole made up 71.5% of all TV time. For anyone comparing services, this matters because live sports still pull people back to broadcast. A service's live-event coverage counts as much as the size of its on-demand library.

The way Nielsen measures this is about to change. The company says the published Gauge will move to ARF DASH-based universe estimates this fall, which means the baseline behind these numbers shifts. Figures from the third quarter onward may not line up neatly with earlier quarters, so treat any quarter-over-quarter comparison across that switch with caution. The broader cord-cutting trend hasn't reversed. Expect the reported size of streaming's lead to move a little once the new method takes effect.

We went back through every comparison table on this page in August 2026 and re-checked list prices, ad-tier availability, and simultaneous-stream limits directly on each provider's own signup page rather than relying on last quarter's numbers. Two shifts drove most of the edits: ad-supported tiers are now the default entry price almost everywhere, and bundles have become the real competitive battleground, so a service that looks expensive standalone often isn't once you account for the bundle it ships in. Where a price moved, we changed the number and the ranking logic behind it instead of leaving a stale figure with a fresh date on top.

Context for why any of this matters: Nielsen's monthly Gauge report has shown streaming holding above 44% of total U.S. television viewing time since mid-2025 — more than broadcast and cable combined — which is why providers keep repricing rather than competing on catalog size alone (background on the shift is well summarized in Wikipedia's streaming television overview). Heading into the back half of this quarter, watch for fall-season price adjustments and sports-rights renewals, both of which historically land between September and November and both of which tend to reshuffle the value rankings below. We re-verify this page monthly and will note the date on every change.

We refreshed our head-to-head tables this quarter after the latest viewership data shifted the math. Streaming's share of total U.S. TV time has climbed past the combined total of broadcast and cable, which changes how we weight value-per-dollar in every comparison on this page. According to Nielsen's The Gauge, streaming accounted for 44.8% of all television usage in a recent month — the single largest category, ahead of cable at roughly 24%. That gap is why we now rank ad-supported tiers and bundle pricing higher than we did a year ago, when cable still held a defensible cost edge for heavy sports viewers.

We also rechecked price changes that landed since spring: several services pushed ad-free tiers up by $2–$3 per month, narrowing the difference between standalone subscriptions and the older cable packages we use as a baseline. For a broader view of how delivery has moved online, the streaming media overview is a useful reference. Heading into summer, watch for the new live-sports rights deals expiring in Q3 — they're likely to reshuffle which platform wins our "best for sports" pick, and we'll update these comparisons the moment carriage terms are confirmed.