Nielsen's The Gauge South Korea: streaming reached 17.8% in August, up 2.3 points from June; YouTube took 10.5%
Broadcasters and pay channels still account for most of what South Koreans watch on their TV sets, but streaming is gaining ground month by month, according to the latest edition of Nielsen's The Gauge™ South Korea, released Oct. 8 in Seoul.
Traditional television, which Nielsen defines as broadcasters, pay channels and general pay channels, took 70% of total TV viewing in August 2026. Streaming services took 17.8%, up from 15.5% in June.
YouTube drove most of that gain. Its share of TV viewing rose from 9.1% to 10.5% over the two months, accounting for 1.4 of the 2.3-point increase. Other streaming services, including Netflix, Tving (티빙) and Wavve (웨이브), together rose from 6.4% to 7.4%. The figures cover viewers aged 4 and older across the total day.
Pay channels lead at 38.7%; general pay channels fall 1.7 points
Pay channels were the largest single category at 38.7% of TV viewing. Broadcasters held 22.7%, general pay channels 7.8% and other viewing 13.0%. General pay channels posted the steepest decline of the period, slipping from 9.5% in June to 7.8% in August, as streaming posted the largest gain.
The Gauge counts only viewing that happens on a television screen, so the hours Koreans spend on YouTube or Netflix on phones and computers fall outside these numbers. Even on the living-room set, YouTube's share is now close to half that of the country's broadcasters.
Nielsen: read the whole screen, not one platform
"South Korean audiences have more choice than ever in how and where they watch television," said Matty Lin, Nielsen's commercial vice president for Asia-Pacific. "Streaming is only one part of the story," he added, arguing that the industry needs to look at the different forms of viewing together rather than at individual platforms in isolation.
Adrienne Wong, Nielsen's managing director for platform and digital in Asia, said combining the categories in a single view lets advertisers, agencies, broadcasters and platforms see "where audiences are spending their time and how those patterns are shifting from month to month."
U.S. streaming stands at 48.6%; Korea remains channel-led
Nielsen launched The Gauge in the U.S. in May 2021 and has since extended it to other markets, including Poland in January 2023. In the U.S. edition for May 2026, published July 28, streaming accounted for 48.6% of TV viewing, putting Korea's August share at a little over a third of the American level. When it launched the Polish edition, Nielsen cautioned that methodological differences should be taken into account in cross-country comparisons.
Nielsen publishes the Korean Gauge monthly. Between June and August, streaming and general pay channels moved in opposite directions, and more than half of streaming's gain came from YouTube alone. Data from September onward will show whether that reflects a summer pattern or a lasting shift.