September 10, 2026
The July television landscape was fueled by the final weeks of the FIFA World Cup 2026 coupled with streaming’s traditional summer boost, according to Nielsen’s July 2026 reports of The Gauge and Media Distributor Gauge.
Streaming usage was up 3.4% compared with June, and the category climbed to 49% of total TV (+0.5 points).
In back-to-back months, “Love Island USA” was the most-streamed title of the interval, generating 4.9 billion viewing minutes in July and 11.7 billion minutes across both months combined.
The impact of Telemundo’s World Cup simulcasts on Peacock was further evidenced by the streamer’s two most-viewed days this interval, including July 5 when Mexico played England in the Round of 16, and July 19 when Spain defeated Argentina in the World Cup Final.
Peacock scored double-digit viewing increases for a second-consecutive month as its viewership jumped 15% compared with June, bringing its share of TV to 2.6% in July’s report of The Gauge (+0.3 points).
Netflix saw its July TV market share drop 1% to 7.8% from 2025 when “Squid Game” and major acquired titles drove an all-time platform record for the streamer.
In addition to Peacock, several other streaming platforms benefited from the summer surge. YouTube viewing rose 6% month-over-month to bring the streamer’s share of TV to a record 14.2%, and extend its lead in the Media Distributor Gauge to five share points. Disney’s streaming properties captured 4.7% of TV in July (+0.1 points), up 4% compared to June with gains across all demographic groups, including a 7% lift among 6-17 year-olds. Hulu’s “The Bear” and “King of the Hill” contributed to Disney’s monthly uptick with nearly 3 billion viewing minutes combined.
While total TV usage typically follows a flat to downward trend in the June-to-July transition, July saw a 2.2% increase in overall usage to rival the Olympics-driven pattern of July 2024 when monthly usage rose 2.3%.
NBCU mirrored its June playbook, which helped power NBCU-Versant to No. 2 in Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge with 9.2% of TV in July (+0.1 points). Because advertising sales for Versant are still retained by former parent NBCU, and to preserve data trends and insights in these reports, NBCU and Versant are reported together in the Media Distributor Gauge with each company’s respective share included in the Media Distributor Gauge chart.
Fox continued to benefit from huge World Cup viewership, leading it to the largest monthly viewing increase among media distributors for a second consecutive month (+7% vs. June).
On top of the 73% increase its broadcast affiliates exhibited in June, Fox’s World Cup coverage drove another 36% bump on affiliates in July. Additionally, Fox owned 25 of the top 26 July telecasts, including the record-breaking World Cup Final on July 19. Fox ultimately added 0.4 share points to finish with 7.8% of TV in July.
While broadcast viewing typically exhibits a 4% to 5% usage decrease in July, the continuation and conclusion of the World Cup drove a slight viewing increase for the category this year (+1%).
Broadcast finished the month with a 19.5% share of TV (-0.3 points). On the cable side, the number of World Cup telecasts fell from 31 in June to just two in July. This also impacted cable sports viewing, which declined 27% month-over-month to represent just 6% of all cable viewership. Overall cable usage was down 2% on a monthly basis, and the category represented 18.7% of TV in July.
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