• "Severance" is the breakout hit Apple TV+ has wanted for years.
• Its popularity is even more impressive when you consider that Apple TV+ is way smaller than its competitors.
• But as new numbers from Nielsen tell us, "Severance" isn't nearly as popular as truly massive streaming shows.

How do you know "Severance" is a breakthrough hit for Apple TV+?

There are lots of ways to judge that: If you're a social media person, you've seen the memes. If you read The New York Times, you've seen story after story after story — at least eight in the last week. Maybe you're just taking my word for it. (Thank you!)

And if you're a numbers person, there are actual numbers you can refer to, courtesy of Nielsen. Those will tell you that in the last week of February, for instance, "Severance" was the sixth-most popular original streaming show in the US.

But take another look at that chart because there's a bunch of context there — something that tells you a bit about the gap between "thing lots of people are talking about" and "thing lots of people are watching."

In my little filter bubble, "Severance" is the buzziest streaming show of the year so far. And lots of people who aren't in my filter bubble are watching it, too — which is why it racked up 622 million minutes of viewing time from February 24 through March 3.

But those numbers are less than half of the really, really popular streaming shows: "Zero Day," a poorly reviewed, ripped-from-the-headlines conspiracy series on Netflix, starring Robert De Niro, had close to 1.5 billion viewing minutes in the same time period. And "Reacher," an Amazon show about a big guy who beats people up, was even more popular.

And that's just when you're talking about streaming originals. When you look at all of the stuff people stream, the gap gets even bigger: "Reacher" and "Zero Day" remain the No. 1 and 2 shows in the country, but "Severance" has totally dropped off the top 10 list, replaced by the likes of "Family Guy" and "Grey's Anatomy" re-runs.

This doesn't mean that "Severance" isn't popular. And given that Apple TV+ has a much smaller subscriber base than competitors like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, it makes the show's performance even more impressive. Maybe you watched a few minutes of "Zero Day" because you were idly scrolling through the Netflix homepage and gave it a shot. But you had to work to watch "Severance," and lots of people did.

This is a reminder of something that lots of us (raises hand) tend to forget: It's a big world out there, and lots of people like stuff that you don't — including stuff you've never heard of. Worth remembering, whether you're talking about streaming TV, politics, or anything else.

• YouTube's TV viewership continues to grow, partly thanks to viewers 50 and older, per Nielsen data.
• Adults 65 and up nearly doubled their YouTube viewing on TV over the last two years.
• Traditional media has fed YouTube by putting more full-length TV episodes and movies there.

Traditional media companies have been fretting about losing kids to YouTube. But maybe they should also be worried about the 50-plus crowd.

YouTube grabbed the top spot in total US TV watching in February, beating out the likes of Netflix and Disney and getting its biggest share ever at 11.6%, per Nielsen's "Media Distributor Gauge," a measure of all streaming, broadcast, and cable viewing across distributors. And that's partly thanks to the gains it's making among older viewers.

YouTube's TV viewing among adults 65 and up has nearly doubled in the last two years (up 96%), with the demographic now representing a contribution similar to that from kids two to 11 (15.4% vs. 16.9%). People 50 to 64 grew their YouTube viewership by 62% in the same timeframe.

Overall, YouTube has steadily grown its share of TV watching — it's up 53% over the past two years. Nielsen's data also excludes the smaller YouTube TV (its cable TV competitor) and computer and mobile watching, which means it likely undercounts the platform's footprint.

YouTube's ascent, especially with younger audiences, has been well-documented. It's sounded alarm bells in Hollywood as their future customers increasingly prefer short-form and creator-driven content over traditional TV and movies. It's also sparked debate over what is "premium" TV, anyway.

Studios and streamers are taking note and increasingly seeking ways to use YouTube talent in their movies and shows, as well as distributing full-length TV episodes and movies on the platform.

But despite YouTube's rise, many in the industry have primarily viewed it as a young person's medium, so its surge among older viewers could come as something of a surprise. Maybe it shouldn't, given the vast amount of video content available on the platform — and older audiences' embrace of social platforms like Facebook.

YouTube's overall age distribution isn't as skewed as you might think. According to a 2025 EMARKETER estimate, people 18 to 44 made up 42.1% of YouTube users, while those 45 and older made up 37.4%.

Advertisers traditionally have obsessed over young people because of the assumption that they're not yet brand loyal. But they shouldn't overlook older people, who generally have more money to spend. As of the fourth quarter of 2024, Americans 55 and older held 73.2% of the country's wealth, per Federal Reserve data.

TikTok has formed a partnership with Nielsen that will allow advertisers and agencies to directly compare ad performance on TikTok across all screens, including digital, CTV, and linear. Nielsen says the partnership will allow advertisers to get a better understanding of TikTok’s contribution to audience reach, while also helping them better place their ads across […]

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