NEW YORK—NBCU-Versant unseated YouTube as the top media distributor in February with a 13.1% share of TV viewing, beating out YouTube, which had 12.7% share. YouTube has held the top spot for many months in Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge.
Nielsen combined NBCU and Versant even though Versant was spun off in early January.
The much delayed Nielsen’s The Gauge was also released, showing that broadcast garnered 21.7% of TV viewing, beating out cable, which fell to 20%. Streaming held a 48% share of TV viewing.
Nielsen reported that Super Bowl LX and the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics generated impressive cross-platform audience engagement and helped curb seasonal viewing declines, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge and Media Distributor Gauge reports. NBCU-Versant was up 48% month-over-month to represent 13.1% of total television usage in February (+4.6 pts.), its best share of TV since the Paris Olympics in August 2024 (13.4%).
NBC’s presentation of the Super Bowl delivered February’s largest TV audience with over 125 million viewers. The game also provided helped kickoff NBC’s slate of extensive Winter Olympics coverage, which comprised 71 telecasts that helped provide a 60% overall bump for NBC affiliates in February, Nielsen reported.
Peacock exhibited a 64% monthly uptick in viewing in February and recorded its highest share of television to date in The Gauge, achieving a 3.0% share of TV viewing.
Nielsen's researchers noted that Peacock’s simulcast of the Big Game represented over 20% of the total Super Bowl audience and helped drive the platform’s most-watched day ever on February 8. Viewers who watched the Super Bowl on Peacock were considerably younger compared to the average age of the total audience, with 73% of viewers under age 50 versus 54% overall.
Peacock also got a boost from its new original series "The ‘Burbs", which was released in full on Super Bowl Sunday. The time-tested strategy of a post-Super Bowl release worked to power the series to the highest average audience among streaming originals in February, and second-highest in minutes viewed. Additionally, Episode 1 of The ‘Burbs was notably the most-watched episode of the month across all original titles.
On the cable side, USA Network registered a 234% viewing increase in February due to its extensive Olympics coverage. An active news cycle drove a 4.4% increase in cable news viewing this month, with MSNOW notching a 7% uptick which contributed a full share point to the NBCU-Versant total.
In another notable trend highlighted by Nielsen, Tubi was up 4.1%. It was the only other streamer to record a month-over-month viewing increase in addition to Peacock. Tubi added a tenth of a share point to finish at 2.2% of TV. The Grammys on CBS was the most-watched telecast in February that aired outside of Super Bowl Sunday. Meanwhile, sports coverage had the opposite effect on other media distributors due to the lack of NFL and college football playoffs on ABC/ESPN, CBS and FOX compared to last month.
The February 2026 interval spanned four weeks, from 01/26/2026 through 02/22/2026. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.
Nielsen released the February data later than usual with a note stressing that The Gauge and Media Distributor Gauge (MDG) do not reflect Nielsen's currency TV ratings that inform advertising sales.
The Gauge and MDG reflect total TV viewing, which includes both ad-supported and non-ad-supported viewing. Nielsen made enhancements to its currency ratings for advertising in February 2026, with impact data provided to clients and the industry in advance. Nielsen is working on updates to The Gauge and MDG reports to better reflect and include currency enhancements for the Fall TV season, at which time Nielsen will provide additional back data to clients to assist in the transition.
