The Paris Summer Olympics pushed Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit to the top spot on Nielsen’s list of media distributors for August.

Nielsen said that NBCU’s units including NBC, USA Network and Peacock, accumulated 13.4% of TV usage — the biggest share since Nielsen began keeping track in November 2023.

NBCU had 9.5% of TV viewing in July.

USA Network viewership jumped 47%, Peacock showed a 39% gain in streaming and viewing across NBC’s broadcast affiliates rose 62%.

NBCU also got a boost from the Democratic National Convention, which boosted viewing of news network MSNBC by 43% compared to July.

YouTube dropped to the No. 2 spot in the distributor’s rankings in August, but its share increased to 10.6% from 10.4% in July.

Also showing an increase in share during August was The Roku Channel, which had 1.7% of TV usage.

Nielsen noted that with the start of the football season not happening until September and their fall TV premieres still on the way, The Walt Disney Co., Fox and Paramount had August lulls.

The Paris Summer Olympics gave a boost to broadcast and popped on Peacock in August, according to Nielsen.

Total TV use in August changed little from July, but compared to a year ago, TV viewing was up 3.5% — thanks to the Summer Games.

NBC, which broadcast the Olympics coverage, had the top 19 broadcast telecasts in August, helping to boost broadcast viewing by 8% compared to July and 11.7% compared to August 2023.

Broadcast had a 22% share for the month, up from 20.3% in July.

Among streamers, Comcast NBCUniversal’s Peacock saw its viewership increase 39%. In the 35-49 year old demo, viewership nearly doubled. 

Peacock’s share of TV viewing jumped to 2.1% from 1.4% in July. 

Overall, streaming’s share of TV usage dipped to 1% from 41.4%.

YouTube had the biggest share among streamers, with 10.6%, up from 10.4% in July, while Netflix’s share dropped to 7.9% from 8.4%

Amazon Prime Video had a 3.1% share, down from 3.4%; Hulu’s share fell to 2.4% from 2.7%; Disney Plus had a 2.3% share, up from 2.1%; Tubi had a 1.8% share, down from 2.1%; The Roku Channel had a 1.7% share, up slightly from 1.6%; Max’s share slid to 1.3% from 1.5%; Paramount Plus had a 1.1% share, unchanged; and Pluto TV was steady with a 0.7% share.

Cable’s share was 26.3%, down from 26.7% in July. Total cable viewing was down 2% for the month.

The Democratic National Convention drove viewership in the final week of August, as MSNBC had the 11 top cable telecasts of the month and 14 of the top 15. ESPN’s Florida State-Georgia Tech college football game had the 12th largest audience.

Driven by kids whiling away their summers online, YouTube surpassed Disney as the most watched TV programming supplier in July, according to Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge report, published Tuesday.

The audience measurement firm found that American viewers devoted 10.4% of their total TV watching time to YouTube. It's the first time a streaming company has held a monthly share of more than 10% of total American viewership in a given month, according to Nielsen.

The increase was driven largely by the summertime seasonality of school-aged viewers (age 17 and under), who accounted for almost 30% of YouTube’s monthly viewership. School-aged children also made up 13% of all TV viewing regardless of platform — the largest total for that age demographic since July 2023.

Also Read: Disney Poaches YouTube Subscription Exec Adam Smith for Chief Product and Technology Officer Role

Disney, which had previously reigned as the largest distributor since Nielsen first published the Media Distributor Gauge in April, fell back to second place with 9.9% of TV usage. 

However, year-to-date numbers still show Disney in the lead among media distributors with 11% of TV viewing through seven months of rankings, followed by Youtube at 9.6% and NBCUniversal at 9.1%.

TV viewing in July was also impacted by coverage of the Republican National Convention, which boosted Fox into the top five with 7.4% of total viewing.

Fox’s new share, which puts it equal with Paramount, marks its largest portion of TV viewing so far this year.

NBCUniversal also saw an increase in viewership to third place with 9.5%, largely due to the few days of Olympics coverage included in Nielsen’s July reporting interval.

That small window of time was apparently enough to boost the company’s share by a full percentage point, compared to June.

That put NBCU even further ahead of Netflix, which ranked fourth for the month of July with an 8.4% share.

Overall, the streaming category accounted for 41.4% of TV viewing in July — the highest share ever recorded by Nielsen.

Meanwhile, broadcast viewing accounted for 20.3% of TV viewing, while cable made up 26.7%.

With a surge in viewing in July, YouTube was the top video distributor in the month, according to Nielsen, accounting for 10.4% of television usage.

Nielsen said YouTube got a boost from kids, with viewing by people ages 2 through 17 accounting for 30% of YouTube viewership. (Overall, that demo account for 13% of viewership.)

The Walt Disney Co. dropped to No. 2 on the list, with its share of viewership declining to 9.9% from 10.8% in June. But year-to-date, Disney remained in the top spot 11% share, topping YouTube’s 9.6%.

NBCUniversal was in the No. 3 spot, getting a boost from the Paris Olympics, even though only three days of the games were included in Nielsen’s monthly computations. NBCU’s increase to a 9.5% share in July was driven by a 33% jump for Peacock and a 24% gain across NBC broadcast affiliates.

Led by coverage of the Republican National  Convention, Fox’s viewership rose 16% and its share of TV viewership increased to 7.4%, its largest share this year.  The surge in viewing pushed Fox ahead of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery for the month.

Viewing of Fox News Channel was up 39% in July and Fox’s Tubi streaming service continued to grow viewership with 6% growth in July.

Netflix’s share of viewership remained steady at 8.4%, keeping it in fourth place, behind NBCU and ahead of Fox. 

Nielsen’s July stats include viewing from July 1 through July 28. Measurement weeks start on Monday and run through Sundays.

TV usage grew 2.3% in July as people started tuning in to watch the Paris Olympics on NBC and Peacock, according to Nielsen.

Led by Peacock, which jumped 33%, streaming’s share of TV usage climbed to 41.4%, its largest share ever, and the largest share ever for streaming, broadcast or cable since Nielsen began issuing monthly updates.

Peacock was not the only streaming service with a big July. YouTube became the first streamer to register a share of more than 10%.

HIstorically, with the broadcast networks in reruns, July has not been a big month for TV usage. But it has usually been a month in which streaming’s share increased.

But the Paris Olympics were a very big deal, with the top five–and seven of the top 10--telecasts in the month. 

In addition to increasing its share from 40.3% in June, total streaming usage increased by 5%.

YouTube was the top streamer with a 10.4% share in the month, up from 9.9% in June.

Netflix had an 8.4% share unchanged from June; Prime Video share share was 3.4%, up from 3.1%; Hulu had a 2.7% share, down from 3%; Disney Plus’ share grew to 2.1% from 2%; Tubi also had a 2.1% share, up from 2%; The Roku Channel’s share was 1.6% compared to 1.5%; Peacock’s share jumped to 1.5% from 1.2%; Max had a 1.4% share, unchanged; Paramount Plus had a 1.1% share, unchanged  and Pluto TV’s share was 0.7% down form 0.8% in June.

Max’s House of the Dragon was the biggest streaming show with 4.7 billion viewing minutes, followed by Bluey on Disney Plus, which had a record month in terms of share. The Boys had 4.2 billion viewing minutes, boosting Prime Video. In addition to the Olympics, Peacock had a hot show in Love Island.

Streaming had 10 titles that exceeded 1 billion viewing minutes and four of the top 10 days for streaming took place in July.

The Olympics brought NBC an average of 10 million viewers on July 28. For the month, broadcast had a 20.3% share, down from 20.5% in June. Broadcast viewing in July was up 5% from a year ago, when it was at a record low.

Cable usage in July was even with June, but its share dipped to 26.7% from 27/2%. The Republican National Convention and coverage ofthe shooting of former President Trump boosted cable news by 23% compared to June.

Nielsen said its local television ratings combining big data from set-top boxes and smart TVs with viewer panels will become its local ratings currency in all markets starting in January.

“Clients will be able to start using Big Data + Panel in Local for transactions from January 2 forward,” Nielsen said in a letter to customers. “Based on industry feedback and feasibility, this will be a currency changeover without a parallel transaction period.”

With increasing fragmentation and the shift to streaming, small panel sizes have made it difficult for local stations and cable operators, competing with digital advertising, to offer detailed and granular information on viewers.

While Nielsen is facing challenges in national audience measurement from new rivals that base their viewership information on big data, the local market has been more fraught.

Some broadcasters, like E.W. Scripps, now rely exclusively on data from Nielsen rival Comscore for local ratings. (Scripps uses Nielsen for its national networks.)

In its letter to clients, Nielsen said its customers will be permitted to use Big Data + Panel in Local for transactions. 

Nielsen’s Panel-Only NLTV data stream will be available only for research and analysis.

“We understand that a currency change can cause disruption in the media buying and selling process,“ Nielsen said. “To ensure you have ample time and information to prepare for the currency change in Local, Big Data + Panel impact data is now available for planning and audience estimates to support Q1 2025 negotiations effective immediately. Nielsen’s guidance for post-buy analyses for Q3 and Q4 2024 will remain Panel-Only data, as utilizing consistent methodologies for buy and post-buy analyses is critical for buyers and sellers. 

Criticism of Nielsen intensified during the pandemic when COVID-19 prevented Nielsen staffers from visiting homes to maintain the quality of its viewer panel. As a result, fewer homes were in-tab, or producing usable data.

Nielsen’s accreditation from the Media Rating Council was suspended, meaning the agency had questions about Nielsen's methodology and its ability to provide reliable data.

Nielsen regained the accreditation for its old national ratings system based on its panel of about 40,000 metered homes. Nielsen’s system for adding big data to its panel data is being reviewed by the MRC. Its panel-based local ratings system has not regained its accreditation.

In March, Comscore’s system for measuring national and local household-level TV viewing was accredited by the MRC.

Nielsen said it agreed to collaborate with Innovid to bring together Nielsen’s Nielsen One measurement product with Innovid’s cross-media ad-serving platform.

The companies said the combination would simplify buying convergent advertising by providing seamless workflow and better measurement across platforms.

“We’re excited to collaborate with Innovid to explore how combining our unique capabilities can make a greater positive impact on the future of audience measurement,“ Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao said. “Nielsen’s work to capture all the ways that people engage with content and ads is essential so that advertisers, creators and the industry know what’s being watched and we continue to innovate on top of our leading measurement approach to better serve the changing industry.” 

The companies said they will be digesting the technical integration of their systems in the coming months.

“Nielsen’s robust industry footprint and methodology continue to make it the go-to standard for media trading and measurement,” Zvika Netter, CEO and co-founder of Innovid, added. “By joining forces and combining our technology, data, and scale, we will help build a better, more transparent, and accessible TV ecosystem for every advertiser. “ 

The "streaming wars" may have been declared over, but there were still plenty of fireworks over the July 4 holiday week. (Yes, I am slightly ashamed of that lede.)

The top U.S. premium subscription streaming services generated a record 313 billion minutes of TV watching from July 1-7, according to Nielsen sampling of connected TV usage, which doesn't include mobile consumption. 

For the first time since Nielsen started publishing weekly streaming metrics in 2021, each of the top 10 most watched premium SVOD shows recorded 1 billion or more minutes of hot streaming action for the measurement week. 

High streaming usage was driven by a warm audience reception for Eddie Murphy's first Beverly Hills Cop sequel in 30 years, as well as the drop of season 9 of Suits on Netflix. New seasons of HBO's House of the Dragon on Max and FX's The Bear on Hulu also moved the needle. 

Nielsen said January 13, the day Peacock exclusively presented the primetime AFC Wild Card matchup between the eventual Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins, remains the biggest volume U.S. streaming day on record, Nielsen said. 

Netflix increased it’s share of television usage by 11.4% to 8.4% in June from 7.6% in May, hopping over Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery in Nielsen’s monthly list of top video distributors.

The Walt Disney Co. retained the top spot in the industry with a 10.8% share, down slightly from 11.4% in May. Nielsen said usage of Disney Plus was up 15%.

YouTube was No. 2 with a 9.9% share, up from 9.7% in May.

NBCUniversal held onto third pace with an 8.5% share, down from 9% in May. Nielsen said NBCU is expected to bounce back in July and August as it covers the Paris Olympics.

Nielsen said that with sports and original drama content lacking on broadcast networks, cable networks owned by A+E Networks, Hallmark Media and AMC Networks gained share.

Overall, eight of the 14 companies Nielsen ranks showed increases in June.

Streaming’s share of television usage soared to a record in June, with most of the largest services showing gains, according to Nielsen.

During a month when overall TV usage increased 2.1% from May (and 1.3% from a year ago) streaming had a 40.3% share, up from 38.8% in May.

Nielsen said streaming’s share eclipsed the previous high set in June 2021, when cable had a 40.1% share.

With school out, viewers 2-17 powered double-digit usage increases for Disney Plus, Tubi, Netflix and Max. 

Netflix was the biggest gainer in terms of share,  largely to the performance of Bridgerton, which had 9.3 billion viewing minutes in June, and Your Honor (also on Paramount Plus) with 7.5 billion minutes.

Bridgeton and Your Honor were the top two streaming shows in the month.

Other shows that moved the needle for streamers included The Boys on Amazon Prime Video and House of the Dragon on Max.

Among the streamers, YouTube had a 9.9% share, up from 9.7% in May, while Netflix’s share rose to 8.4% from 7.6%.

Amazon Prime Video’s share was 3.1%, up from 3% in May; Hulu had a 3% share, down from 3.1%; Disney Plus’ share rose to 2% from 1.8%; Tubi hit a high with a 2% share, up from 1.8%; The Roku Channel had a 1.5% share, unchanged from May; Max’s share was 1.4% up from 1.2%; Peacock had a 1.2% share, up from 1.1%, Paramount Plus’s share was 1.1%, down from 1.2% and Pluto TV was flat at 0.8%, down from 0.9%.

Broadcast’s share was 20.5% in June, down from 22.3% in May, when most series finales aired.

The most watched broadcast shows all aired on ABC, including the NBA Finals, the simulcast of CNN’s presidential debate and Game 7 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final.

Sports viewing on broadcast was up 26% and news viewing rose 5%.

Cable’s share fell to 27.2% from 28.2% in May.

The top cable program was the presidential debate, which also drew 10 million viewers on CNN and another 9.5 million on Fox News Channel.

Looking ahead, Nielsen noted that the Paris Olympic Games are likely to draw sizable audiences to broadcast and cable, as the Summer Olympics has in the past, although events will also be streamed on Comcast NBCUniversal’s Peacock.

Nielsen said it has named Akhil Parekh as chief solutions officer of digital product, a new role at the audience measurement company.

Parekh was previously executive VP, managing director at ad agency Publicis Groupe, where he was responsible for building a media platform for agency planners and buyers.

At Nielsen, he will focus on building and improving the company’s planning and ad products as the ad business pivots from traditional TV to digital media.

Parekh will work with chief product officer for audience measurement Deirdre Thomas, who will continue to lead product strategy for Nielsen’s ratings and reporting units.

“As we continue to evolve with the industry and focus our efforts on streaming and our convergent TV strategy, we must continue to make strategic investments in innovation,“ Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao said. “Akhil will play a critical role in helping develop the products and strategies our clients need to succeed in the advertising ecosystem. I’m so excited for our future and feel confident that the new additions to our team will help us achieve our vision.”

Before joining Publicis, Parekh was senior VP, product management, converged TV at Mediaocean. He also held posts at 4C Insights, Rovi and Amp’d Mobile.

“Nielsen has persisted as the leader in the audience measurement in the advertising ecosystem, and it’s an honor to continue the innovation that will unlock future growth for the business in the digital space,” Parekh said. 

Fox got a boost from its Tubi streaming unit and its share of total TV usage among media companies rose in May, according to new monthly figures from Nielsen.

The Walt Disney Co. remained at the top of Nielsen’s ranking of the 13th biggest media distributors, followed again by YouTube and NBCUniversal.

The only change in the rankings came as Roku Channel hopped over Weigel Broadcasting into 10th place on the list, with a 1.5% share.

Nielsen released its first monthly report on media distributors last month. The new measure is designed to provide a different perspective than the ratings company’s other monthly report, which compares the share of television usage of broadcast, cable and streaming, including a breakdown of the top streamers.

Nielsen said the new report removes the siloes of traditional television versus streaming and puts all content distributors on a level playing field to allow given how TV is being watched today.

In May, Disney’s share of television usage was 11.4% down from 11.5% in April. YouTube’s share rose to 9.7% from 9.6% the prior month.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal had a 9% share, up from 8.9%; Paramount Global had an 8.8% share, unchanged; Warner Bros. Discovery had 8.1%, unchanged, and Netflix garnered 7.5%.down from 7.6%

No. 7 Fox’s share jumped to 6.4% from 6.1%. Nielsen said Fox’s growth was amplified by a nearly 5% monthly viewing increase from its free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) platform Tubi TV, and a 1.6% monthly increase from Fox News Channel.

Amazon, now including Twitch, had a 3.1%, down from 3.2% and the E.W. Scripps Co. got 2.3% of viewing, unchanged from April..

The Roku Channel had a 1.5% share, up from 1.4%, moving it ahead of Weigel Broadcasting, which also had a 1.5% share, unchanged.

Rounding out the list were A+E Networks, with a 1.2% share, down from 1.3%; Hallmark Media at 1.1%, down from 1.2%; and AMC Networks with a 1% share, down from 1.1%.

Nielsen said it made some changes since releasing the first list last month with some entities added and mapped to the appropriate distributor, specifically NBA-TV and Hogar de HGTV have been mapped to Warner Brothers Discovery, and Twitch has been mapped to Amazon. The addition of these entities to their respective distributors would not have changed the share or ranking of WBD or Amazon in April, but did impact each distributor by an increase of 0.1 share point in May.

Streaming grabbed a record high 38.8% share of television usage in May as total usage fell 2.4% from April, according to Nielsen.

Nielsen said the sitcom Young Sheldon presented a strong example of how TV is converging. The series generated 6 billion viewing hours, with half coming on streaming and the other half on traditional broadcast and cable TV. 

Young Sheldon appeared on CBS, TBS, Nick at Nite, Paramount Plus, Netflix and Max. It ended its first run on CBS on May 16. 

With season finales airing, broadcast’s share of TV usage rose to 22.3% of viewing from 22.2% in April.

Broadcast also got a boost from NBC’s broadcast of the Kentucky Derby, the most-watched linear telecast May.

Compared to a year ago, broadcast’s share was down 0.5 points.

Cable’s share fell to 28.2 from 29.1% in April. With no March Madness and fewer sports telecasts overall, not only was cable down from April, but its share was down 0.5 points from last year.

Helping streaming’s share rise from 38.4% in April was growth at free, ad-supported platforms Tubi, The Roku Channel and Pluto TV. Fox-owned Tubi’s share equaled that of Disney Plus.

YouTube again was the top streaming service with a 9.7% share in May, compared to a 9.6% share in April.

Netflix had a 7.6% share, unchanged from April.. 

Hulu’s share was 3.1%, unchanged; Amazon Prime Video was 3.0%, down from 3.2%; Disney Plus was 1.8%, unchanged; Tubi grabbed a 1.8% share, up from 1.7%; The Roku Channel generated 1.5%, compared to 1.4%; Max had 1.2%, unchanged; Paramount garnered 1.2%, up from 1% Peacock had 1.1%, down from 1.3% and Pluto TV had 0.9%, up from 0.8%

Bridgerton on Netflix was the most-streamed programing, capturing 5.5 billion viewing minutes as the first four episodes of Season 3 dropped.

Nielsen said its Big Data-Plus-Panel data set is now interoperable with LiveRamp, enabling media planners to connect first party and third-party data with NIelsen’s audience data within the Nielsen One campaign planning product.

Clients will be able to create advanced target audiences for data-driven linear campaigns and measure deliveries across screens at the household and person level.

“We've seen the industry demand grow across linear and digital for highly targeted audiences powered by big data," Stefan Maris, Nielsen chief partnerships officer, said. “Our integration with LiveRamp enables seamless connectivity of both first and third-party data to plan and measure advanced audiences at scale using Big Data Plus Panel."

“LiveRamp and Nielsen’s new integration allows Havas Media to holistically plan on, buy, activate and measure custom-built advanced audiences as part of our proprietary Converged product suite to better serve our clients,” said Mike Bregman, chief activation officer for Havas Media Network North America. “This integrated solution will enable us to leverage first- and third-party data and we’re excited to introduce it across our portfolio.

The addition of LiveRamp’s RampID for connectivity and collaboration enables always-on use cases across platforms, allowing clients to build and evaluate audiences on-the-fly at scale.

“Our integration with Nielsen delivers a more holistic and detailed understanding of audiences across screens that empowers both brands and agencies to improve activation, and publishers to enhance the value of their inventory," said Vihan Sharma, chief revenue officer at LiveRamp. "All parties gain access to deep insights that fuel a powerful flywheel around planning and measurement.”

Lionsgate said it has made a deal with Nielsen to make its MovieSphere channel the first major free ad-supported television (FAST) channel to get traditional linear audience metrics from the measurement company.

With cord-cutting reducing the number of viewers watching cable TV, marketers have been putting more of their ad dollars into streaming FAST channels. But a lack of reliable and familiar audience metrics has raised concerns about whether that money is well spent.

“By bringing proven linear TV metrics to the FAST space, Nielsen is providing us with a valuable and innovative tool to benchmark performance, evaluate what’s working and respond quickly to our audiences,” Lionsgate president of worldwide television distribution Jim Packer said. 

“This is potentially a very significant development where our team can leverage viewer reach, duration, frequency, concentration and other audience indicators to help us shape our branded general-entertainment channels to better return value for our partners,” Packer said.

MovieSphere has been growing, with viewership up 87% in Q1 of 2024. The channel was watched for an average of about 123 minutes per viewer, according to Nielsen, making it comparable to some of the top basic cable networks.

Nielsen will provide Lionsgate with detailed demographic data on MovieSphere’s audience, allowing the company to better understand its viewers and make informed content decisions.

“With more channels and choices than ever before, Nielsen is highly focused on innovating to ensure our measurement helps clients understand what and where people are watching,“ Nielsen chief revenue officer Amilcar Perez said. “The FAST market is growing rapidly, demanding more solutions to understand how people are engaging with FAST channels. “We’re pleased to collaborate with Lionsgate, a leader in the FAST market, to bring more clarity and efficiency to FAST players.”

MovieSphere is available on 18 streaming platforms, including Samsung, Roku and Pluto TV, and will be available on nearly 20 platforms before the end of the year, Lionsgate said.

The FAST channel features movies from Lionsgate’s film library including Silver Linings Playbook, Winter’s Bone, Hacksaw Ridge, Meatballs, Good Luck Chuck and Dirty Grandpa.

Live sports programming continues to deliver huge ratings for TNT and ESPN as both networks dominated last week’s primetime cable ratings chart.

TNT averaged 3.2 million viewers for the week of May 13-19 to top all cable networks for the fourth straight week, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by Fox News. The network was bolstered by its May 19 coverage of the Minnesota Timberwolves-Denver Nuggets Game 7 NBA Western Conference semifinals telecast, which averaged 7.5 million viewers.

NBA and NHL playoffs-fueled ESPN finished second for the week with 2.2 million viewers, followed by Fox News' 1.9 million viewers and MSNBC’s 1.1 million watchers.

HGTV pulled into fifth place with 647,000 viewers, followed by Hallmark Channel (637,000 viewers), INSP (606,000), TBS (525,000), USA Network (522,000) and History (512,000).

Fox News posted its 19th straight win on the total day chart with 1.2 million viewers, followed by MSNBC (831,000), TNT (797,000), ESPN (771,000) and CNN (471,000), according to Nielsen. 

Even some of Nielsen's harshest critics are praising the media research company for a new iteration of its monthly "The Gauge" marketshare tracker that breaks down U.S. TV viewing share by media company, not platform. 

And let's just say that while it conducts its Upfront presentation to advertisers in New York Tuesday, Disney is singing Nielsen's praises, too. According to the inaugural "Media Distributor Gauge," which measured all "glass" viewing of television in the U.S. among watchers 2 and older for the month of April, Disney controlled an industry-leading 11.5% of all U.S. TV usage for the month of April.

Pundits are lauding the tweak because it more usefully applies to the cross-platform way in which media companies conduct their advertising sales. 

“With more programs available across platforms, it’s vital for creators, advertisers and the industry at large to understand what and where audiences are watching,” said Karthik Rao, CEO of Nielsen, in a statement. “The Media Distributor Gauge is a perfect complement to the The Gauge and serves as the first convergent TV comparison of its kind. Together, these reports paint the most complete picture of TV viewing today, which is critical as we head into the Upfront.”

Despite the many (well deserved) slings and arrows shot Nielsen's way, The Gauge remains a useful industry barometer for measuring the broad strokes of domestic TV consumption.

It's interesting to compare the April 2024 Gauge to the inaugural graphic, which measured usage for May 2021. 

Compare cable television media networks' share of viewing, which is down nearly 10 full percentage points over 35 months. Streaming's share of the pie, meanwhile, is up over 12 percentage points. 

Nielsen released a new ranking of companies in the media distribution business, including broadcast, cable and streaming, and The Walt Disney Co. was at the top of that list.

At a time when it appears that streaming is taking over the television business, the new ranking has YouTube as No. 2 followed by traditional media companies NBCUniversal, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery.

Netflix, the streaming powerhouse with no traditional media assets, was fifth.

The news comes on the morning of Disney’s upfront presentation. Disney's media assets include broadcast network ABC, cable programmer ESPN and streaming platforms Disney Plus and Hulu.

The rankings reflect share of television usage in April.

“With more programs available across platforms, it’s vital for creators, advertisers and the industry at large to understand what and where audiences are watching,” Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao said. “The Media Distributor Gauge is a perfect complement to The Gauge and serves as the first convergent TV comparison of its kind. Together, these reports paint the most complete picture of TV viewing today, which is critical as we head into the upfront.”

Nielsen also released its regular monthly snapshot of television usage, which showed streaming had a 38.4% share of viewing in April, followed by cable at 29.1% and broadcast with 22.2%.

The TVB, which represents local TV stations, groused that the new distributor report does not take into account how much of each company's viewing is commercial free.

"The Gauge reports combine all video platforms in one analysis – without separating ad-supported viewing from non-ad supported viewing – which misleads marketers into thinking their commercials can reach significantly more streaming viewers than is possible or the reality,” said TVB CEO Steve Lanzano.

“Advertisers’ commercials are only available on ad-supported video platforms. When viewing of ad-supported platforms is analyzed alone, the results are very different from what is shown in the Gauge reports because a large number of streaming viewers do not receive ads. Advertisers need these facts when considering video media investments," Lanzano said.

Giant media buyer Publicis is telling network sales executives that it does not think Nielsen’s new panel-plus-big-data currency is ready for this upfront.

Publicis will stick with Nielsen, using the measurement company’s traditional panel-based ratings. The media buyer is eager to use Nielsen’s big data product when it meets its standards, according to people involved in preliminary upfront discussions.

Publicis declined to comment for this story.

Nielsen has acknowledged that it needs to improve on its panel-based ratings system, which has dominated the TV audience measurement business for decades.

The upstart companies challenging Nielsen are basing their audience estimates on big data from set-top boxes and smart TVs. They say big data from millions of households is better for measuring today’s fragmented viewing universe than a panel of just 40,000 homes. Big data is also required for the way marketers now target specific audiences with their TV advertising.

Nielsen has been working on a new ratings stream that uses big data, with its panel serving as a “truth set” that enables it to create person-level data and adjust for errors, biases and other imperfections in the big data sets it works with.

Last month, Nielsen announced that it would make its panel-plus-big-data measurement product available for use as its preferred currency for transacting advertising deals effective in September, when upfront deals cut this spring and summer will take effect. Nielsen will also continue to produce its panel-only ratings, and customers can use that as currency if they want.

"We've worked through the lengthy audit and accreditation process, and are confident that we will answer the outstanding questions," a Nielsen spokesperson said. "We understand that bringing major product enhancements to the marketplace requires our clients to adapt and embrace change."  

Publicis has been a key player in testing Nielsen’s new methodologies along with the Walt Disney Co. 

One of Publicis’ concerns is that it has less than a year of what Nielsen calls “impact data,” a sample of  what the new ratings would look like if they were in effect this TV season. Publicis does not believe it has a sufficient amount of historical data to be able to make projections about how many people will see the commercials it plans to buy.

It’s not good business to invest billions of dollars in commercials without reliable projections, media buying sources noted.

The Nielsen impact data also has not been stable, with big fluctuations. And while some of the changes resulting from a change in methodology seem to make sense, it also includes anomalies that defy explanation–another sign the data is not ready for prime time.

On top of that, a lot of the data generated covers the period when the Writers Guild of America and actors union SAG-AFTRA were on strike, eliminating most of the original programming on linear networks and boosting streaming. That also makes it hard to project when the broadcast networks will start their fall schedules.

The big-data products from other measurement companies are similarly not ready for this upfront, in Publicis’s view. That's why the media agency will continue to use the Nielsen panel data many in the industry call outdated as its currency for transactions.

Publicis is hardly the only client with concerns about Nielsen’s big data methodology. Nielsen had planned to roll out its big data a year ago, but admitted it wasn’t fully baked.

After the pandemic cut the number of people participating in its panel, Nielsen lost Media Rating Council accreditation for its panel-based national measurement system. It regained the accreditation for its panel-based ratings, but there have been delays in getting approval for adding big data. 

Nielsen decided to make its panel-plus-big data rating available without MRC accreditation.

At the same time, Nielsen competitors VideoAmp, Comscore and  iSpot received various levels of certification from the buyers and sellers participating in the U.S. Joint Industry Council on Measurement. Nielsen has declined to work with the JIC.

In March, Comscore received MRC accreditation for measuring household-level viewing. 

Using data from 45 million households and 75 million Dish Network, DirecTV, Roku, Vizio and Comcast devices, Nielsen’s panel-plus-big-data measurement produces audience estimates that are 4% to 5% higher than employing panels alone. Ratings for most shows are up slightly or flat, Nielsen said.

But for some networks, like Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision, the gains are much larger. TelevisaUnivision plans to use the new system in the upfront.

Nielsen said that actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has selected Nielsen as its third-party provider of streaming content measurement.

The union needs the data because its new contract calls for members to get additional pay based on the success of streaming shows.

“New business models require new tools, and that’s why we’ve enlisted Nielsen,” SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said. “The information they provide will give us the means to cross-check the data streamers give us and ensure employers are fulfilling their contractual obligations to our members.” 

Nielsen’s data will complement first-party data from streaming platforms and serve as a consistent and comparable lens through which the performance of streaming titles across various distribution platforms can be analyzed.  

“The rapid evolution of the media landscape and audience behaviors over the past decade has not only affected how content is consumed and measured, but also greatly impacts the financial models on which the entertainment industry operates,” Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao said. “We are incredibly proud that SAG-AFTRA has chosen Nielsen as the source for objective and consistent audience measurement insights in the streaming space.”

Television usage took its usual March dip, dropping 3% from February, according to Nielsen,

Last year in March, TV viewing fell 2% and in 2022, it was down 4.6%. 

Broadcast usage was down 6% in February. Broadcast’s share fell to 22.5% from 23.3% in February.

Cable usage was flat, so it gained in share, rising to 28.3% from 27.6%. Cable was helped by college basketball coverage–particularly coverage of women’s college basketball, which set viewership records. The State of the Union address boosted cable news channels.

Streaming increased its share of viewing to 38.5% from 37.7% in February. Usage of streaming was down 1% in March compared to February. But compared to a year ago, viewership is up 12%.

YouTube had its biggest share of viewing ever, with a 9.7%. 

Netflix’s share of viewing increased to 8.1% from 7.8%, boosted by original series such as  Love is Blind, The Gentleman, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, which combined for nearly 15 million viewing minutes.

Hulu was the only other streamer to grow its share in March, moving up to 3% from 2.8%.

Amazon Prime Video had a 2.8% share, flat from February; Disney Plus dipped to 1.7% from 1.9%; Tubi fell to 1.6% from 1.7%; Peacock slipped to 1.3% from 1.4%; Roku had 1.3% up from 1.2%; Max was flat at 1.3%; Paramount Plus dipped to 1% from 1.1% and Pluto TV had a 0.8% share, unchanged.

Linear (live TV) streaming via multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and virtual MVPD apps represented 6.4% of total television usage in March. Linear streaming is included in the appropriate broadcast or cable category, and is not included in the streaming category.

CNN has dunked its weekly, primetime talk show King Charles after a five-month run.

The series, which featured CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King and NBA Hall of Famer/Inside The NBA co-host Charles Barkley discussing topical issues, launched in November 2023 but failed to generate strong ratings, according to published reports.

The series, the brainchild of former CNN CEO Chris Licht, was expected to help build CNN’s primetime ratings, but drew lackluster ratings from the start. In December,  Barkley criticized Nielsen for not accurately reporting all potential viewership for the show. 

Overall, the series averaged 459,000 viewers through its run, according to Nielsen numbers reported by the New York Post.

The move comes during a particularly busy time for Barkley and his Inside The NBA show as the NBA playoffs launch this week.

Local television station owners including Gray Television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Hearst Television, Tegna and the E.W. Scripps Co. have invested in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, whose Run3TV platform can provide detailed data about over-the-air broadcast viewership.

Run3TV also creates apps that provide NextGen-enabled TV sets that give viewers additional features and programming. 

Pearl TV, the organization formed by broadcasters to push adoption of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, said it anticipates more broadcast groups will get involved in the Run3TV venture.

Comscore and Nielsen have been working with Pearl TV on local media measurement since 2018.

“Our investment in Run3TV and ATSC 3.0 is a strategic endeavor for local broadcasters like Gray, bringing additional, measurable value to local stations by providing more choices for our viewers,“ Gray Television CEO Pat LaPlatney said. “Run3TV improves over the air viewership measurement, but it also gives our viewers more options at the touch of a button to engage deeper with their local stations.” 

Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.

"By integrating our applications into the Run3TV platform, we're committed to uniting the industry toward enriching the viewer experience, including offering more interactive services and essential public services like emergency alerts," added Chris Ripley, CEO of Sinclair, which previously had not been part of the Run3TV coalition.  

Also Read: Detroit Stations Launch Start Over, Datacasting To Boost NextGen TV

NextGen TV sets that are hooked up to both an antenna and the internet can opt in to provide stations with viewing information. That information can be used to enhance the local TV measurement services offered by Nielsen and Comscore.

"Our partnership aims to enhance audience measurement precision with big data capabilities for over-the-air, contributing to the industry's growth and innovation,“ Comscore chief information officer Brian Pugh said. “Comscore eagerly anticipates the rollout of Run3TV by broadcasters as it will allow enhanced return path data capabilities increasing the customer satisfaction and value of measurement.”

Paul LeFort, managing director of Nielsen’s local TV business, said: “Nielsen is pleased to evolve our longstanding relationship with Pearl TV as we jointly explore the use of OTA ‘big data’ in our local TV measurement. OTA households have been a critical element of our local TV service for decades, and this latest development around Run3TV is an exciting step in potentially being able to harness the power of OTA broadcasting data sources, which will only enhance our local TV measurement.”

TVB, the broadcast-TV trade organization, said its CEO Steve Lanzano weighed in on the development: “TVB and its members continue to advocate for new solutions that enhance local broadcast television audience measurement. The RUN3TV platform is a critical step in moving our industry forward through its ability to harness the data-rich capabilities of ATSC 3.0 technology to more accurately capture local, over-the-air viewership. TVB is a strong supporter of Pearl TV and their efforts to advance NextGen TV for the benefit of consumers, brand managers and advertisers.”

Fox News easily outperformed its cable news rivals on the ratings front during the first quarter of 2024, posting its highest-rated quarter ratings since the first quarter of 2023.

Fox News averaged 2 million viewers in primetime during the period of January 1 to March 31, topping second-place MSNBC’s 1.2 million viewers and CNN’s 594,000 watchers, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by Fox News. Among viewers 25-54, Fox News drew 233,000 viewers compared to the 121,000 viewers drawn by both CNN and MSNBC.

Promo: Come to Future's The Business of TV News Event in D.C. on May 2

On a total day basis, Fox News drew 1.2 million total viewers and 156,000 in the 25-54 demo, with MSNBC averaging 814,000 viewers (82,000 in 25-54) and CNN garnering 467,000 viewers (85,000 in 25-54).

Overall, Fox News delivered 95 of the top 100 cable news telecasts during the quarter, with its daily afternoon show, The Five, leading the way, according to Nielsen.

Fox News was also the most-watched cable news network in March, averaging 2.1 million viewers in primetime, compared to MSNBC's 1.3 million viewers and CNN's 601,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. 

Nielsen said it plans to make its combination of panel data plus big-data measurement systems available to use as its preferred currency effective in September, when upfront deals cut this spring take effect.

Nielsen is incorporating big data from Dish Network, DirecTV, Roku, Vizio and Comcast into its new measurement systems. Nielsen is also taking to streamers to incorporate their data into its service.

The big data — from 45 million households and 75 million devices — gets combined with the 40,000 households participating in Nielsen’s panel to create the new ratings. Nielsen uses the panel as a “truth set” that enables it to create person-level data and iron out errors, biases and other imperfections in the big data sets it works with.

At a time when viewing is more fragmented than ever, using big data makes Nielsen’s audience estimates more stable and sensitive, with fewer incidents of programs or demographic groups showing up with no viewers in the sample — the so-called zero cells, Deirdre Thomas, Nielsen’s chief product officer, said on a conference call with reporters.

“You really need a big data set to understand because there are all the different types of media platforms and devices that we all roam around on,” Thomas said. “But bit data alone cannot get it done. You need a truth set.”

Nielsen also said that using big data increases viewing levels by 4% to 5%, added Pete Doe, Nielsen’s chief research officer. Viewing levels increase more for younger viewers than older ones.

Ratings for most shows are up slightly or flat, Doe said.

Nielsen has dominated the TV ratings business for decades, but throughout that time had been subject to criticism when its numbers haven’t measured up. During the pandemic, Nielsen lost the Media Rating Council’s accreditation for its national and local measurement processes.

Nielsen regained its national accreditation last year, but only for its panel-based data. Its plan to add big data has yet to be accredited by the MRC.

The measurement world has also become more competitive with companies looking to use big data to improve audience estimates.

Last month, Comscore received household-level accreditation from the MRC for its national and local measurement system. 

Nielsen is also facing competition from iSpot.tv and VideoAmp. 

Comscore, iSpot.TV and Videoamp all received provisional certification from the Joint Industry Council on Measurement for their use of big data to produce audience estimates. (Nielsen declined to participate in the JIC process.)

Getting MRC accreditation has historically been a big deal for media buyers and advertisers, but Nielsen appears ready to go forward with its big data even before the MRC has finished its review.

But this upfront, big-data currencies will be used for transactions.

“Big data from any one of four measurement companies (Nielsen, VideoAmp, iSpot, & Comscore) is a given as an upfront currency option,” said Sean Cunningham, CEO of the Video Advertising Bureau, which has been monitoring the measurement and currency situation closely on behalf of its membership of programmers and distributors who sell advertising.

“Three of the above (VideoAmp, iSpot & Comscore) have been through a rigorous JIC data testing process to good result, and Nielsen national data is at the tail end of an MRC audit process, there are also some who may want to trade on Nielsen panel; there are definitely choices,” Cunningham said. 

Nielsen’s big data will enable it to help plan and measure advanced audiences. Nielsen can link data that brands have about their customers to identify target consumers and create cross-platform measurement as well, Thomas said.

The new system will also better enable Nielsen to measure addressable advertising. 

Thomas noted that as part of the process of launching big data as part of its currency, Nielsen has been providing clients with impact data since the end of last year to gauge how the new measurement performs. Nielsen will continue to use C3 and C7 as metrics and continue to provide panel-only data to clients who prefer to use it.

Nielsen said that Circle City Broadcasting, owner of WISH-TV in Indianapolis, has renewed its local TV measurement deal. 

The new multi-year agreement includes Nielsen’s Local Over the Top measurement, which measures local audiences across streaming apps and linear TV.

Financial terms were not released.

"At Circle City we’re proud to serve our local communities every day. We truly value Nielsen’s approach to innovation and ongoing investments in Local TV. We are excited to be adding Local OTT measurement to gain an even deeper understanding of our local audiences regardless of where or how they’re watching,” said DuJuan McCoy, owner & president of Circle City Broadcasting.

NIelsen compete with Comscore to provide local broadcasters with audience measurements. Other measurement companies, including VideoAmp are trying to break into the local ratings business.

“We are thrilled to extend our long-standing work with  Circle City to report their deep & diverse audiences with  insights they need to drive content decisions and incremental revenue opportunities for their audiences across Indiana,” said Paul LeFort, managing director of Nielsen’s Local TV business. “As our Big Data + Panel solution for Local TV comes to market this year, Nielsen remains committed to serving our customers with best in class Local TV measurement inclusive of Over-the-Air, Out-of-Home and direct persons measurement , and representing the diverse communities served by broadcasters like Circle City."

Lyft, the ride-share company that has gotten into the fast-growing retail media business, said it hired Nielsen to measure the audiences and effectiveness of ads that appear in Lyft’s app.

Lyft Media will be using three Nielsen products to determine the impact of its clients’ campaigns with Niesen One Ads, Brand Impact and Buyer Lift.

“As we navigate the advertising landscape with Lyft Media, it is important to us that our advertisers understand the impact their in-app ads have on their overall campaigns,” said Shane Dwyer, Lyft Media, Head of Sales. “Combining Nielsen One Ads, Brand Impact, and Buyer Lift solutions offers our advertisers valuable insight into their campaigns' performance, helping them exceed their campaign objectives.”

Spending on retail media is expected to jump 30% to $64.7 billion in 2024, according to Advertiser Perceptions.

“Leveraging Nielsen One Ads in conjunction with Nielsen Brand Impact solutions unlocks comprehensive insights for advertisers previously not available in the marketplace,” said Ameneh Atai, GM, Audience Measurement at Nielsen. “Lyft Media advertisers will see in real time how reach and frequency metrics can influence brand KPIs, powering actionable insights to guide more informed campaign strategy going forward.”

Comscore’s system for measuring national and local household-level TV viewing has been accredited by the Media Rating Council.

At a time when measurement companies are scrambling to offer alternatives to Nielsen, which has dominated the TV ratings business, Comscore becomes the first to win what is considered the industry’s Good Housekeeping seal of approval for a methodology that employs big data from set-top boxes and smart TVs to analyze the current more fragmented viewing environment.

Comscore is also the only measurement provider whose local measurement is accredited and the first to be approved in all 210 measured local markets based on device tuning measurement.

Nielsen regained the accreditation for its old national ratings system based on its panel of about 40,000 metered homes. Nielsen’s system for adding big data to its panel data is being reviewed by the MRC. Its local ratings system lost its accreditation and has yet to get it back.

Newer measurement companies iSpot.tv and VideoAmp have engaged the MRC in order to pursue accreditation.

With the TV industry’s annual upfront ad-buying season approaching, accreditation is a feather in Comscore’s cap. 

“We see this as a very big deal.  The MRC continues to be the gold standard for audience measurement,” Comscore CEO Jon Carpenter told Broadcasting+Cable.

In the competition among measurement companies, “this gives us a big leg up,” he said. “To go into the upfront with essentially the only product that's accredited in the marketplace, that's a that's a big deal. It's no longer about one single=source panel solution in the market. There are other choices here, and this one's a pretty darn good credible one.”

Carpenter said Comscore’s methodology is different, building up from ground up at the household level, which gives Comscore a consistency across its local and national ratings.

Comscore’s linear ratings are also the foundation of its cross-platform measurement, which is what clients are looking for now.

“Linear TV is still the most effective vehicle for reach, so any cross-platform product that doesn't include high-quality linear TV data at the scale that Comscore delivers, both nationally and locally, is missing a significant mark.” he said. “And the fact that we've got an accredited product that underpins our cross-platform product in addition to what it does to our traditional TV measurement product I think is incredibly important.”

The accreditation comes at a time when the MRC is busier than its ever been, with new competitors to Nielsen using  big data, more digital players looking for validation and retail media networks looking to use their first-party data to sell advertising, said MRC CEO George Ivie.

“We think this is a major milestone for Comscore, and its opens the door for in the future even more accreditations from them,” Ivie said.

With the accreditation, “If you're a user of Comscore you now can have confidence that Comscore reports to you things like standard errors sampling and non-sampling error, The KPIs are calculated accurately.” 

The MRC will be auditing Comscore annually.  “To be accredited means you're making a long-term commitment to transparency and validation.”

For a time after the pandemic, there was no accredited TV audience measurement service

“This is the definitely  the longest we've ever been without a local accredited service and this comscore announcement will begin to fill that void,” Ivie said. “I think it'll create momentum like for the need to be accredited.”

The changes in the way viewers consume TV means new measurement methods are required, especially with advertisers looking to reach more specific target audiences.

“It's generally becoming known that a panel standing alone is not really sufficient to measure some of these nuanced audiences,” Ivie said.  

“Then you have the other all currency vendors that are stepping forward that all of them are leveraging larger data sets, he said.

According to Ivie, iSpot has requested a proposal from the MRC to to audit its audience measurement product. iSpot should have that proposal soon.

VideoAmp is in a pre evaluation process, in which the MRC’s CPA’s walk through VideoAmp’s methodology to flag any big methodological gaps that might keep it from easily achieving accreditation, Ivie said. The CPA’s report should be sent by the end of the month.

Meanwhile Nielsen is addressing some of the MRC’s audit findings regarding its big-data methodology. “We're going to be making decisions on the accreditation probably in a couple of months time,” Ivie said.

Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao congratulated rival Comscore on getting the MRC’s blessing. 

“The more accredited data there is in the marketplace the better it is for everyone—buyers, sellers, viewers and all of us devoted to the science of audience measurement,” Rao said in a LinkedIn post. 

After the SEC found irregularities in its books, Comscore was hamstrung by a long-running re-auditing process. It was recapitalized and has been trying to rebuild since Carpenter joined the company in 2021. .

“What you've seen from this team that's been in place now for the last 18 months is a commitment to deliver and we've already out of the gate had some very big announcements,” he said, noting big deals with Nexstar Media Group, Tegna and The Trade Desk.

“This is a nice win here at a point in time, but there's still plenty of wood to chop,” Carpenter said. “Our goal is to continue to deliver for our clients and that means continuing to provide solutions that deliver cross-platform capability that's unmatched.”

Accreditation is a rigorous process that includes an independent audit conducted by a CPA firm engaged by the MRC, and a review of the audit report by a committee comprised of MRC member organization representatives.

MRC accreditation signifies that Comscore’s methodologies and processes meet the organization’s industry established standards, designed to ensure transparency and accountability in measurement.

“We spent thousands of hours at Comscore. And in fact we have audited Comscore more than once for them to achieve this accreditation over a period of years,” said Ivie. “This has been a very rigorous demanding process. They're really to be congratulated for what they have done.”

The Media Rating Council is a non-profit industry association established in 1963/ Its goal is to ensure measurement services are valid, reliable and effective.

Nielsen's latest monthly TV viewing share tracker, The Gauge, showed significant year-over-year gains for YouTube, Tubi and Peacock, while streaming's overall share of U.S. TV watching was also up slightly.

Accounting for 7.9% of viewing in February 2023, YouTube jumped to a sector-leading 9.3% of total U.S. TV watching for people 2 and older last month, according to Nielsen. Fox's ad-supported Tubi also had a big market share jump over that span (from 1% of viewing to 1.7%), as did Peacock (from 1% - 1.4%). 

Peacock, which ended 2022 with roughly 20 million subscribers, reported over 30 million as of the end of 2023. 

We've included Nielsen's latest "Gauge" graphic on top of the February 2023 model below:

Streaming's total viewership share was up from 34.3% - 37.7% over the one-year span. But the February 2024 performance was roughly flat versus most of 2023. 

Super Bowl Sunday was the most-viewed day of TV since Nielsen began issuing monthly report cards in May 2021. 

Despite the big numbers for the big game on February 11, TV usage fell 6.4% from January, with cable’s share dropping to the lowest level on record.

Broadcast viewing fell 10% from January, and its share of television usage dropped to 23.3% from 24.2% in January. 

On Super Bowl Sunday, broadcast made up 43% of TV usage, with the big game on CBS generating nearly 30 billion viewing minutes. CBS also grabbed 17 million viewers for the Grammys and solid audiences as scripted shows such as Tracker, NCIS, FBI and Young Sheldon returned.

Streaming fell 1.9%, but its share of viewing increased to a six-month high of 37.7%, up from 36%. 

CBS’s coverage of the Super Bowl streamed on Paramount Plus, boosting the streaming service’s share of viewing to 1.1% from 0.9% in January. Paramount Plus also got a boost from Halo. 

YouTube had its highest share ever, rising to 9.3% from 8.6% in January, while free ad-supported streaming services Pluto TV, Tubi and Roku all posted sizable gains.

Peacock’s share, boosted by the exclusive national carriage of an NFL playoff game in January, fell back to 1.4%. 

The most-viewed streaming titles were Young Sheldon on Netflix and Max, with 4.6 billion viewing minutes; Bluey on Disney Plus, with 4.5 billion minutes; and Grey’s Anatomy generating 3.5 billion minutes for Netflix. The top original streaming series was Netflix’s Griselda with 3.2 billion minutes.

Among the streaming services, YouTube continued to be No. 1, with a 9.3% share, up from 8.6% in January. Netflix had a 7.8% share, down from 7.9%; Hulu’s share was 2.8%, up from 2.7%;  Amazon Prime Video had 2.8%, unchanged; Tubi had a 1.7% share, up from 1.5%; Peacock had 1.4% of viewing , down from 1.6%; Max’s share was flat at1.3%; Paramount Plus was 1.1%, a jump from 0.9%; and Pluto TV has a 0.8% share, up from 0.7%

Cable viewing's share shriveled to 27.6% from 27.9% 

Cable news viewing rose 7% as audiences started tuning in to election-year coverage, Nielsen said. Sports viewing was down by about 30%, despite the NBA All-Star Weekend being the top cable show.

Nielsen said it named Anil Goel as chief engineering officer.

Goel was most recently president, technology and group chief technology officer of Byju’s Group, an educational technology firm. Before that, he was with OVO, Amazon, HyperQuality and Real Networks.

He is replacing Srini Varadarajan, who is stepping down but will stay with Nielsen to help with the transition through June. 

Goel will be based in Bengaluru, India, and report to Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao.

“The measurement industry is evolving rapidly, and as we look to grow in streaming and lead the advance of convergent TV as the currency in media measurement, we must strengthen our technology roadmap to align with our vision,” Rao said. “Anil has the vision and experience to lead Nielsen’s technology innovation to power a better media future for all people.”

As chief engineering officer, Goel will have an expanded portfolio, leading Nielsen’s technology and engineering teams to drive product innovation and advanced technology adoption, working in close partnership with Nielsen’s product teams. Nielsne said he will also speed up Nielsen’s adoption of automation and artificial intelligence to de-risk delivery, improve customer experience and strengthen Nielsen’s products.

“I’m thrilled to lead the innovation and adoption of advanced technologies as Nielsen’s chief engineering officer,” Goel said. “The adoption of advanced technology is a critical component for Nielsen to become the world leader in measurement and currency for streaming, and I’m honored to lead us into the future.” 

Nearly a decade after its ostensible sunset, USA Network’s “Characters Welcome” era is having another moment. 

Following the summer domestic ratings sensation created over the summer by breezy legal drama Suits, two more old USA Network shows, comedic drama Royal Pains and the show that first established the entire USA Network branding ethos, Tony Shalhoub’s “defective detective” comedy-drama Monk, have also found subscription streaming audiences.

Also read: ‘Suits’ a Massive Summer Hit? In a Global Streaming Business, Not So Much

In Nielsen’s most recent U.S. SVOD rankings (which cover Feb. 12-18), Suits, Royal Pains and Monk hold three of the 10 spots on the list. 

The domestic streaming success of Suits has come with ubiquitous distribution — not only has it drawn large U.S. viewership on Netflix, where its brand lens fits rather perfectly, but it’s also streamable on Peacock. 

Also read: NBC Lawyers Up With Another Reboot, Makes Pilot Order for ‘Suits: L.A.’

For its part, Monk can be streamed on Netflix, Peacock and Amazon Prime Video. Peacock's recent return to the scene, Mister Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie, might also be aiding the Monk cause.

All three series ran during the vaunted era of USA Network’s “Characters Wanted” marketing campaign, which was initiated in 2005 under network president Bonnie Hammer, with Monk and its multi-time Emmy-winning star, Shalhoub, pioneering an ethos of quirky, character-driven comedic dramas, entertaining enough yet not requiring huge commitments from viewers. 

Other USA Network shows from that era, including Psych and In Plain Sight, have generated buzz on Netflix before leaving the platform. 

The broader resurgence of older titles on Netflix ties to a current retrograde trend of studio suppliers, including NBCUniversal, once again aggressively licensing their content to the streaming giant to generate cash. 

More specifically, USA Network shows seem to travel quite well within the algorithmic transoms of Netflix's viewer recommendation engine. 

Lifetime’s two-night documentary special Where Is Wendy Williams? Drew 1.2 million viewers on the network in Nielsen live-plus- 3-day ratings and more than 6 million viewers across linear and digital platforms, according to Nielsen numbers provided by Lifetime.

The controversial documentary, which debuted on February 24 and focused on the troubled life of the television personality during the period after her iconic talk show ended and she was placed under financial guardianship, was its most-watched nonfiction program in two years since The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, Lifetime said.

Where is Wendy Williams? averaged 6.2 million viewers across linear and digital services to date, and was the top trending TV program in total social interactions on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube during its February 24 premiere, said Lifetime. 

Lifetime’s airing of the documentary came after a New York appeals court on February 23 ruled against a temporary restraining order the Williams’ legal guardian filed against Lifetime the day prior in an attempt to stop the documentary from airing. 

Comscore said that it reached a multi-year agreement to provide local cross-platform measurement for Tegna in all of the 51 markets where Tegna has television stations.

Comscore competes with Nielsen, the leader in the TV audience measurement business.

Tegna and Comscore signed an agreement in 2020 that called for Comscore to provide ratings in 22 of 51 markets.

In 2021, Tegna renewed a deal with Nielsen that covered 34 of Tegna’s markets.

A Tegna spokesperson did not answer a question about whether Nielsen would continue to work with the company’s stations.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Also Read: Nexstar Picks Comscore for Local, National, Cross-Platform Audience Measurement

“Expanding our partnership with Comscore will offer us deeper insights through digital and qualitative data, enriching cross-platform solutions for our valued advertising partners,” said Lynn Beall, executive VP and COO, media operations, at Tegna. “We look forward to partnering with our clients to deliver their targeted audiences across any platform with precision and effectiveness to grow their business.” 

Also Read: Nexstar Extends Deal With Nielsen for Local, National Ratings

Comscore will provide Tegna with a complete view of audiences across linear, CTV, and digital channels and data  that will help Tegna’s advertising clients optimize their campaigns.

“Comscore is proud to be a valued partner to Tegna which is known for its trustworthy and impactful local journalism and strong connections to the communities they serve,” said Comscore CEO Jon Carpenter. “The combination of our local linear TV data, and our groundbreaking cross-platform solutions will help TEGNA measure the value of their content and deliver outsized value for their advertisers across linear and digital. We're excited to begin this latest phase of our partnership.”

Boldly moving to disrupt yet another dicey corner of the media and entertainment business, Penske Media Group showbiz trade Variety said Thursday that it will soon begin publishing weekly top 10 lists for original streaming movies and TV shows culled from data generated by Penske's own Luminate research business. 

Starting March 24, Variety will publish two weekly rankers, one for TV shows and another one for films, based on minutes viewed in the U.S. for subscription streaming platforms AMC Plus, Amazon Prime, Discovery Plus, Disney Plus, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount Plus and Peacock.

Variety has for decades published audience performance data from Nielsen, which now also publishes weekly rankers on the performance of streaming shows. However, our own deep dive into Nielsen streaming rankings discovered numerous issues in regards to methodologies and accuracy. Perhaps worse, Nielsen's "Streaming TV Top 10" delivers performance data that is a month old. 

Also read: Who's No. 1 in Subscription Streaming? Muddled Metrics Methodologies Make Matters Murky

"Luminate’s new model offers visibility through multiple, differentiated data sources and powerful data science," a Penske press rep told Next TV via email that, "Existing alternative offerings from other companies have limitations or higher risk for inaccuracies that include: they have no verified consumption source, and instead rely on social media, BitTorrent and public search; they also rely on research panels that often skew female and older, [and are thus] not reflective of the full audience; and they have delayed reporting of up to 30 days." 

Luminate's platform refreshes daily, the rep added, "and these charts will be updated weekly."

In October 2020, Penske Media Group formed a joint venture with MRC, then the financially strapped owner of The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and other publishing brands. Among the operations put under PMC's control at the time was the data collection unit behind the venerable Billboard music charts.

In March 2022, the erstwhile P-MRC Data was rebranded as Luminate. And under PMC's watch, Luminate has been developing its so-called "Streaming Viewership" product that will be showcased weekly by Variety.

"Data transparency surrounding SVOD viewership remains a pressing issue within the entertainment industry," said Mark Hoebich, executive VP and head of film & TV for  Luminate, in a statement. "After two years of development, we are eager to provide this valuable information to all relevant parties with our new Streaming Viewership product, and we are grateful to Variety for being our official partner in delivering that data to the public each week.

"Having already proven our reliability with our more than 30 years working with Billboard to fuel their iconic music charts, we're confident that the information we are sharing in these new charts will help unify the industry for a singular reference point surrounding streaming viewership," Hoebich added. 

Nielsen said it named Nicolina Marzicola as chief people officer.

Marzicola had been global head of HR, commercial organization and global head of HR operations at HP Inc.

In her new job, Marzicola will lead Nielsen’s global HR function and aim to engage employees, connect to strategic priorities and drive growth, the company said.

She reports to Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao and succeeds chief human resources officer Laurie Lovett. 

“Nicolina will play a crucial role in our ability to operate with greater agility by transforming where and how Nielsen works,” said Karthik Rao, CEO of Nielsen. “I’m confident that her years of human resources experience will instill in our organization a shared sense of purpose as we drive toward our bold vision for the future.”

"I look forward to working with Karthik and the entire leadership team to continue cultivating Nielsen’s culture and uniting our global employees around our ambitious goals," Marzicola added.

Viewership of the Super Bowl keeps climbing, but the 49ers still can’t get an extra point.

The NFL said a league-commissioned custom survey by Nielsen determined that the Super Bowl on February 11 reached 210 million viewers across broadcast, streaming and digital properties. 

The 210 million is up 6% from the result of a similar study a year ago. It is also up 4% from the 202 million unique viewers Nielsen’s syndicated ratings service came up with. It's also an eye-popping two-thirds of the country.

The custom survey also determined that the average minute audience was about 143 million viewers, up from the 123.7 million reported by Nielsen on February 13 and 123.4 million reported by CBS on February 12. Nielsen rival iSpot calculated on February 12 that 126,6 million were watching.

“The Super Bowl is singular across the television and media landscape not only in its unparalleled viewership, but because it is largely watched in group settings," said Paul Ballew, chief data and analytics officer of the NFL. “With that in mind, additional measurement is needed in order to have a complete picture of the total viewership of this special event and the results of this custom survey with Nielsen illustrate the true magnitude of the Super Bowl."

Part of the custom survey involved looking at 5,267 households to determine the size of viewing groups and to determine if those groups are larger than Nielsen’s estimate. The survey was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.

Changes in the way out-of-home viewing is measured and added to total viewership have pushed the ratings of sports higher. For the Super Bowl, a lot of people seem to be watching in other people's homes.

“Nielsen understands the nuance of the Super Bowl, which historically has drawn the largest television audience of the year and includes unparalleled viewership from large groups of people, both in and out of homes," said Deirdre Thomas, chief product officer at Nielsen. “We are proud that the NFL partners with Nielsen to provide the best possible measurement of their programming, for the Super Bowl and throughout the season. Additionally, we're excited about the expansion of our National Out-Of-Home panel, which we announced earlier this month, because it will enhance our ability to provide the most complete picture of the audience, especially for major events like the Super Bowl.”

In the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs won in overtime after a blocked extra point enabled the Chiefs to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

Peacock’s exclusive national telecast of an NFL playoff game gave streaming its biggest day ever and powered overall TV viewing to a four-month high, according to Nielsen.

January TV usage rose 3.7%, compared to December. It was also up 1.4% from January 2023. 

January had three of the 10 biggest days for TV usage since May 2021 and nine of the most streamed days ever.

The playoff game gave Peacock a 29% increase for the month, pushing its share to 1.6% of all TV usage. 

Comcast NBCUniversal paid $110 million for the rights to air the Kansas City Chiefs-Miami Dolphins AFC wild card game on January 13. According to Nielsen, 23 million people watched. Comcast NBCU has not disclosed how many people signed up for Peacock before the game and how many kept their subscriptions after the game.

Broadcast viewing was up 7.1 in January and its share of TV usage rose to 24.2% from 23.5% in December.

Sports viewing on broadcast was up 36% and accounted for 28% of all broadcast viewing. The first new scripted content since the strike — NBC’s Chicago-set dramas — boosted drama viewing on broadcast by 20%.

Viewing on cable was up 2.7% in December, but its share dipped to 27.9% from 28.2% last month. ESPN’s coverage of the College Football Playoff game between Michigan and Alabama was the top cable program, followed by six other NFL and college football games.

Cable news viewing was up 8%.

Streaming viewing rose 4.1% to give it a 36% share, up from 35.9% last month. 

Netflix’s Fool Me Once was the most-streamed show, marking the first time an original was the most streamed show since May 2023 with 6.5 billion minutes. Prime Video’s Reacher (Season 2) was the fourth-most-watched show on cable, with 4.3 billion minutes.

YouTube remained the streaming service with the largest share of television usage with an 8.6% share in January, up from 8.5%. 

Netflix had a 7.9% share, up from 7.7%. Prime Video had a 2.8% share, down from 3.3% in December, when it had Thursday Night Football.

Hulu had 2.7%, up from 2.6%; Disney share was unchanged at 1.9%.

Peacock, with the playoff game, jumped to a 1.6% share from 1.3%; followed by Tubi with a 1.5% share, up from 1.4%; Max with a 1.3% share, up from 1.2%; Roku Channel with a 1.1% share, up from 1%; Paramount Plus unchanged, with a 0.9% share; and Pluto TV steady, with 0.7% of viewing.

Linear (live TV) streaming via multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and vMVPD (virtual multichannel video-programming distributors) apps represented 6.2% of total television usage in January. Linear streaming is included in the appropriate broadcast or cable category and is not included in the streaming category.

Fox News was the most-watched cable network in primetime and total day for the first full week of February as it continues to pile up ratings victories in 2024. 

The cable news network averaged 2 million viewers for the week of February 5-11 for its fourth straight win on the chart, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by Fox News. MSNBC was a distant second with 1.3 million viewers, followed by HGTV’s 749,000 viewers, History’s 731,000 viewers, and ESPN’s 670,000 watchers.

TBS finished sixth with 645,000 viewers, followed by INSP (626,000), TNT (596,000), Hallmark Channel (571,000) and USA Network (569,000). 

On a total day basis, Fox News averaged 1.3 million viewers for the week, blowing away competition from MSNBC (846,000 viewers), CNN (462,000), ESPN (455,000), and HGTV (433,000), reported Nielsen. 

An estimated 123.7 million viewers tuned into the Super Bowl, up 7.4% from last year, making it the largest TV audience ever, Nielsen said Tuesday.

The Nielsen stats include viewing on traditional and Spanish-language TV, digital viewing, out of home and viewing on MVPD and vMVPDs, Paramount Plus and digital properties owned by CBS Sports, Univision and the NFL, including NFL Plus.

Nielsen said 120.3 million viewers watched the game on CBS. Another 2.3 million watched in Spanish on Univision and 1.2 million chose to watch the Slime-friendly kids-geared telecast on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite.

Yesterday, based on Nielsen fast national numbers and data from Adobe Analytics, CBS said 123.4 million people watched the Super Bowl.

Nielsen rival iSpot.tv pegged the Super Bowl audience at 126.6 million viewers. 

The Kansas City Chiefs’ overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers had a household rating of 34.5 and a combined share of 83%

“We are excited to work with the NFL, CBS, Paramount Plus, Nickelodeon and Univision to capture the full breadth of audience engagement for this record breaking Super Bowl,” Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao said. “No matter how or where viewers watch the game — at home with family and friends, at a bar or streaming —Nielsen has the advanced measurement capabilities to capture the audience for the biggest TV event of the year.”

Paramount added that Paramount Plus’ live stream of the Super Bowl was a big factor in making the game the most-streamed Super Bowl in history.

The Super Bowl’s average minute audience was up 52% from a year ago, Paramount said, citing data from Adobe Analytics and channel partner data.

Streaming engagement was at an all time high with 2.64 billion minutes of the game consumed. The previous record was 1.48 billion minutes from Super Bowl LVII. 

Super Bowl Sunday was the biggest day ever for Paramount Plus and the biggest live event on the service since its launch in terms of active subscriber households and hours consumed. 

CBS said its coverage of the Super Bowl was the most watched telecast in history, with total audience delivery of up 7% to 123.4 million average viewers across all platforms, based on fast national figures from Nielsen and data from Adobe Analytics.

About 202.4 million viewers watched all or part of the Kansas City Chiefs’ January 11 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers, up 10% from last year.

Also Read: Super Bowl Overtime Was Money Time for CBS

There were 120 million viewers on CBS, the largest audience ever for a single network, the broadcaster said.

Paramount Plus also had a record-setting audience, establishing a record for the most-streamed Super Bowl in history. CBS did not say how many people streamed the game.

Earlier, Nielsen rival iSpot.tv reported that 126.6 million people watched the Super Bowl, up 10.9% from last year.

Final Nielsen numbers are expected Tuesday. 

Nielsen and Hallmark Media said they have agreed to a multi-year extension of their agreement, under which Nielsen provides audience measurement and analytics for Hallmark three linear networks and its streaming services.

“Our renewal extends our partnership with Nielsen to continue to utilize their authoritative suite of services to provide analytics and insights for our company,” Hallmark Media’s senior VP of revenue and strategic research, Tom Ziangas, said. “As viewing patterns continue to evolve and fractionalize across the industry, this partnership will allow us to understand the interaction of our widely beloved brand of content across platforms and meet the needs of our advertisers and viewers alike.” 

Nielsen, which has long dominated the TV measurement business, is facing challenges from rivals using big data from set-top boxes and smart TVs to measure viewing. Securing a renewal from Hallmark is a sign Nielsen maintains a firm grip on the industry, despite complaints.

Perhaps coincidentally, Nielsen noted that Hallmark Channel was the top-rated entertainment cable network for 2023 and in the fourth quarter of 2023, when advertisers clamor for Hallmark’s holiday-themed programming. 

“We are excited to continue our longstanding relationship with Hallmark as their provider of audience measurement, and deliver the data and insights to help power their strategic growth initiatives and showcase their unique value proposition to advertisers,” Nielsen chief revenue officer Amilcar Perez said. “Nielsen is at the forefront of providing the most comprehensive view of consumer behavior across both linear and streaming today.”

Nielsen said it is expanding the panel it uses to measure out-of-home TV viewing, which will mean bigger ratings for sports programming.

Nielsen currently has portable people meters that viewers wear in 50 of the biggest markets, representing 65% of the country.

After the expansion it will have meter-wearing panelists in every state except Alaska and Hawaii.

Expanding to 100% coverage of the continental U.S. will result in an increase in OOH contribution to the national data, a Nielsen spokesman said.

Nielsen began capturing viewing in locations such as airports, hotels, bard and restaurants about 10 years ago. It started including those viewers in its national ratings in 2020.

Also Read: In New Error, Nielsen Admits It Left Out Some Out-of-Home Viewing

According to Nielsen, in 2023 fans in the U.S. spent more than 1.7 trillion minutes watching games from the five most-watched sports leagues. 

Out of home viewing gets trickier to measure as more viewers turn to streaming and more sports programming appears on streaming platforms.

Also Read: Nielsen, Arbitron Team Up on Portable People Meter

“Nielsen is highly focused on innovating in order to better serve our clients and ensure our measurement accounts for the full landscape of television consumption,” Deirdre Thomas, chief product officer, audience measurement, said. “We understand how important it is for our clients to be able to have the most complete picture of the audience, especially for special events like the Super Bowl.”

Nielsen plans to provide data including the additional meters in the fourth quarter of 2024, in time for Super Bowl LIX in 2025.

“We are appreciative of Nielsen’s efforts to make out-of-home measurement more complete, providing a much clearer picture of the true audience for all television viewing and especially sports viewership,” Paul Ballew, chief data and analytics officer at the NFL, said. “For years we have been consistent in our belief that major sports events, like the upcoming Super Bowl LVIII, are often viewed with family and friends in large gatherings and this expanded out-of-home viewership will be crucial to measuring those events.”

Nexstar Media Group has agreed to a multiyear extension of its agreement with Nielsen, which will continue as a preferred provider of local and national TV audience-measurement services to the broadcaster.

The agreement follows a similar announcement from Comscore earlier this month.

The new deal with Nielsen covers ratings for Nexstar TV stations in 116 markets, The CW Network, NewsNation and Antenna TV.

Nexstar signed previous deals with Nielsen in 2020 and Comscore in 2019.

Last year, Nexstar invited measurement companies to submit proposals for improved audience measurement and complained that its viewership was being understated. 

Nielsen, which has long dominated TV’s audience-measurement business, has been under pressure from a group of newer companies that use big data from set-top boxes and smart TVs to estimate how many viewers are tuned in.

Companies are also looking to cut costs, including how much they spend on research. 

Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed, but Nexstar’s decision to keep both Nielsen and Comscore shows that Nielsen still has a good grip on the industry as it rolls out Nielsen One, which adds big data to measure a more fragmented environment in which streaming increasingly dominates viewing.

“We are pleased to extend our relationship with Nielsen and are excited about the potential for Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement solution to more accurately measure all the places where consumers engage with Nexstar’s valuable content — over the air, via cable and satellite, over-the-top, online and out-of-home,” said Nexstar chief revenue officer Michael Strober said.  

After The CW added LIV Golf to its lineup last February, Nexstar hired iSpot.TV and VideoAmp to measure the audience across platforms and got numbers significantly different from Nielsen’s figures.

“Nexstar is a valued, longstanding customer, and we’re proud to continue to serve as one of its preferred providers of audience data and ad measurement,” Amilcar Perez, chief revenue officer at Nielsen, said. “Nielsen’s unique mix of unrivaled data-science expertise, paired with our comprehensive measurement, sets us apart from other providers. We remain committed to bringing the industry and our customers data they can trade on with confidence.”

Nielsen said that Fox has renewed its contract for audience measurement for multiple years.

The new agreement covers Fox’s broadcast and cable networks, Fox has also signed up for Nielsen One Ads.

Fox will continue to license Nielsen’s sports-focused planning and audience tools and Nielsen continues to be a measurement provider for Tubi, Fox’s streaming platform.

Also Read: Nexstar Picks Comscore for Local, National, Cross-Platform Audience Measurement

The renewal comes as Nielsen faces challenges from measurement companies using big data from millions of set-top boxes and smart TVs to estimate audiences.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“Fox is at the forefront of providing millions of viewers valuable news, sports and entertainment content, and we value our long-standing relationship with FOX,” said Amilcar Perez, Chief Revenue Officer at Nielsen. “As we continue to focus on innovating our measurement to meet our clients’ needs, we are proud that clients like FOX choose Nielsen to provide the audience measurement data across digital and linear properties it needs to bring value to its advertiser partners.”

Nexstar Media Group said it signed a long-term deal with Comscore to provide cross-platform audience measurement metrics for its local stations, its The CW network nationally and its digital assets.

The contract follows a process in which Nexstar invited measurement companies to submit proposals for improved audience measurement.

Nielsen, with its panel-based method, has been under pressure from rival measurement firms, including Comscore and iSpot.TV, which base their audience estimates on big data from set-top boxes and smart TVs.

“I think this is one of those inflection points in a very critical year,” Steve Bagdasarian, chief commercial officer at Comscore, told Broadcasting+Cable.

“It’s fantastic to work with a large-scale broadcaster and be their choice as it relates to currency measurement,” Bagdasarian said “I think they’re seeing what we see as well about the future of how media is going to be bought, sold and traded.”

Nexstar signed measurement deals with Nielsen in 2020 and Comscore in 2019.  

After The CW added LIV Golf to its lineup in February, Nexstar hired iSpot.TV and VideoAmp to measure the audience across platforms and got numbers significantly different from Nielsen’s figures.

When Nexstar launched its request for proposal (RFP) process, it complained that it was not getting accurate audience numbers and that its audiences were undercounted across platforms, which costs advertising dollars.

“Comscore’s ability to provide us with total audience measurement metrics across our local television stations and websites, NewsNation, The CW Network, and The Hill, enables our cross-platform sales team to leverage our unique scale and reach to customize bespoke advertising and marketing solutions for our clients,” Michael Biard, Nexstar’s president and chief operating officer, said. “We look forward to offering our advertisers deeper insight into who is watching and interacting with our programming and when they are doing so, enabling them to focus on the audiences they want to reach.”

Nexstar declined to say to what degree it continues to work with Nielsen. And while Comscore had made inroads against Nielsen in local markets, Nielsen remains dominant nationally.

“Nielsen still remains, obviously, a significant incumbent,” Bagdasarian said. 

And it's an incumbent that station managements have long complained about and is criticized for charging monopolistic rates for its services.

“I think that we are fairly priced for the capabilities that we have and I think the market has historically seen us from a price-to-value standpoint to be in a more favorable camp,” Comscore's Bagdasarian said.

 Financial terms were not disclosed.

Comscore says it provides measurement across  210 TV market. With its single methodology for both local and national measurement, Comscore’s audience numbers for all 41,704 zip codes roll up into a national audience total.

Nexstar expects Comscore to deliver more precise audience insights across screens to help advertisers optimize total reach and measure the holistic cross-platform campaign with de-duplicated in-flight monitoring of key metrics such as reach and frequency, incrementality, and co-viewing.

“Look, it's fantastic to work with a large scale broadcaster like Nexstar and be their choice as it relates to currency measurement,” Bagdasarian said.

Measurement is especially crucial in 2024, with the elections coming up, not to mention the Olympics. 

“This is a signal that the concept of alternative currencies is going to continue to be a big topic.” he said. “I think it sends a strong signal to the market that there is the ability to think differently about how you might have invested  your measurement resources in the past,” he said.

Former Viacom and Buzzfeed executive Carole Robinson was named chief communications officer for Nielsen, which is battling to maintain its dominance in the television measurement business.

Robinson will report to Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao. Connie Kim, who had been senior VP, head of communications for Nielsen, left the company in October.

In her new post, Robinson will be responsible for all of Nielsen's global communications, including external media relations, internal communications, corporate philanthropy, and executive communications.

“As we look to take Nielsen into the future of currency measurement at a time when there is so much change, both for us and for the industry, it has never been more important for us to be very clear about our mission and our message,” Rao said. “Carole is the right executive with decades of experience across all aspects of media who can bring that to life, for all of our key stakeholders both internally and externally. I am thrilled she is joining us at Nielsen, I look forward to working closely with her as she helps both the company, and me, navigate all of it.”

Robinson most recently served as chief communications officer at Buzzfeed. Before that, she spent 30 years at Viacom and its MTV Networks unit.

“There’s never been a more interesting moment to measure and contextualize engagement, and Nielsen is at the convergence of every platform and audience,” Robinson said. “Karthik and his leadership team are totally committed to innovation and customer service. I can't wait to join the mix, learn from them, and bring my experience from previous companies where change was the norm.”

Television usage increased 1.7% in December to its highest levels since January 2023, but the biggest jump came from video-game consoles, with streaming, broadcast and cable all losing share, Nielsen said.

December 31 was the second-biggest day for TV viewing in 2023, behind only Super Bowl Sunday on February 12.

Broadcast viewing fell 4.3% — the first drop since July — and its share of TV usage dropped to 23.5% from 24.9% in November. Sports represented 28.5% of broadcast viewing.

Compared to a year ago, broadcast usage was down 5.9%.

Cable usage was up 1.3% but cable’s share of viewing dipped to 28.2% from 28.3% in November. Feature fils was the top cable genre with a 21.4% share. Sports viewing grew 8.4% with ESPN’s December 30 Detroit Lions-Dallas Cowboys game drawing 11 million viewers. 

Cable viewing was down 9.7% from a year ago in December.

Streaming was up 1.2% but its share of TV usage declined to 35.9% from 36.1% a year ago. Viewing by people age 18 to 24 was up 2.7%.

Time spent watching YouTube on TV was down 3.4%, while Netflix (up 6%) and Tubi (up 6.6%) showed gains.

The top streaming titles were Young Sheldon (on several streaming services) and Leave The World Behind on Netflix.

YouTube remained the top streamer on TV with an 8.5% share of viewing, down from 9% last month.

Nielsen’s “other” category, including video gaming, gained in share to 12,5% from 10.7%.

Netflix share rose to 7.7% from 7.4%, Amazon Prime Video had a 3.3% share, down from 3.4%; Hulu had a 2.6% of TV usage, down from 2.7%; Disney Plus’ share was 1.9%, unchanged; Tubi had 1.4%, unchanged; Peacock garnered 1.3%, the same as in November; Max held steady with a 1.2%; Paramount Plus had 0.9%, unchanged and Pluto TV dropped to 0.7% from 0.8%.

Linear (live TV) streaming via MVPD (multichannel video programming distributors) and vMVPD (virtual multichannel video programming distributors) apps represented 6% of total television usage in December. Linear streaming is included in the appropriate broadcast or cable category, and is not included in the streaming category.

Television usage jumped 5.7% in November, boosted by the Thanksgiving holiday to its highest levels since January, according to Nielsen.

Viewing during the week of Thanksgiving was up 14%.

Broadcast viewing rose for the fourth consecutive month, while cable dropped to a new low with a 28.3% share.

Streaming grew 4%, but its share dipped to 36.1% from 26.6% in October.

Broadcast’s share rose 24.9% in November from 24.6% in October, powered by an 18.4% increase in usage Thanksgiving week.

Compared to a year ago, broadcast viewing dipped 5.3%, but viewing of sports on broadcast in November was up 2.8% compared to a year ago. 

Cable viewing compared to a year ago was down 13%. Feature films got 19% of cable viewing in November, topping news, which is usually the leading category.

Nielsen said the top streaming show in November was the kids’ show Bluey, with 3.78 billion minutes viewed, topping Grey’s Anatomy with 3.7 billion minutes viewed. The only made-for-streaming show in the Top 10 was Netflix’s All the Light We Cannot See, in 10th place.

The biggest gainer among streaming services was Comcast NBCUniversal’s Peacock, which was up 23% for the month. Peacock got a boost from football and coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Tubi rose 8.3% in usage, to its highest-ever share of usage at 1.4%.

YouTube was the top streaming platform, with a 9% share in November, down from 9.1% in October.

Netflix had a 7.4% share, up from 7.2%, followed by Amazon Prime Video with a 3.4% share, down from 3.6%; Hulu had a 2.7% share, down from 3.1%; Disney Plus was 1.9%, unchanged; Tubi 1.4%, up from 1.3%; Peacock 1.3%, rising from 1.1%; Max was unchanged at 1.2%; Roku Channel 1%, down from 1.1%, Paramount Plus 0.9%, unchanged and Pluto TV, 0.8%, unchanged.

Linear (live TV) streaming via MVPD (multichannel video programming distributors) and vMVPD (virtual multichannel video programming distributors) apps represented 6.4% of total television usage in October. Linear streaming is included in the appropriate broadcast or cable category, and is not included in the streaming category.

Fox News Channel looks to end the year on a high note after posting its second straight weekly sweep of the primetime and total-day ratings charts.

The news network averaged 1.8 million viewers during the week of December 4-10, besting ESPN’s 1.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen numbers supplied by Fox News. The news network was paced by its December 5 Hannity Town Hall special featuring former President Donald Trump, which drew more than 3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. 

MSNBC finished third with 1.2 million viewers, followed by Hallmark Channel’s 1.1 million viewers and TNT’s 816,000 watchers.

History was sixth with 701,000 viewers, followed by Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (687,000 viewers), HGTV (665,000), USA Network (627,000) and INSP (579,000).

Fox News averaged 1.1 million viewers on a 24-hour basis, beating out MSNBC (779,000 viewers), ESPN (666,000), Hallmark Channel (664,000) and CNN (427,000), according to Nielsen.