Total television usage inched up 2% in October, bolstered by a 9.4% increase in broadcast viewing. While the seasonal uptick in October isn’t unique, this year’s gains were achieved without the benefit of a robust new programming schedule. Without any new scripted programming, the broadcast boost was almost entirely attributable to sports programming.

The robust NFL schedule and the MLB’s World Series were the primary drivers of the 15% rise in sports viewing across broadcast channels, powering October to its third consecutive month of broadcast gains. It was also the largest gain for broadcast since January 2023. The increase in sports viewing also attracted an influx of younger viewers: broadcast viewing among 18-24-year-olds was up 15%. On a year-over-year basis, however, total broadcast viewing was down 5.6% and the sports genre was down by 8%.

Cable benefited from double-digit gains across the news and sports genres (17% and 19%), with news taking the top-genre crown capturing 21.8% of cable viewing. While these gains resulted in 0.9% more viewing, it wasn’t enough to keep pace with the total TV trend, causing a loss of 0.3 share points for the month to land at 29.5%, the smallest share for the cable category to date.

Trending the opposite of broadcast, streaming gave back share for a third consecutive month, although usage was almost flat with September (-0.6%). Without the methodology change noted above, however, the share loss would have only been 0.4 instead of 0.9. While usage was largely stable across platforms, October featured a couple of unique data nuggets:

Suits remained the top program, but viewership was down a third from September.

• Suits remained the top program, but viewership was down a third from September. Netflix, which offers Suits along with Peacock, retained eight of the top 10 streaming titles in October.
• Disney+ viewing was up 1.5%, and held the other two top streaming titles: Bluey and Elemental.
• Amazon Prime Video usage was up 1% and continues to peak on Thursdays due to NFL games.

Without the typical rush of new scripted content this fall, it’s likely that we’ll continue to see atypical TV usage trends until mid-to-late first quarter 2024. At that point, it will be interesting to see if usage spikes, which would be a trend break from what we’re accustomed to seeing at that time of year.

October data trends with Brian Fuhrer

The Gauge provides a monthly macroanalysis of audience viewing behaviors across key television delivery platforms, including broadcast, streaming, cable and other sources. It also includes a breakdown of the major, individual streaming distributors. The chart itself represents monthly total television usage, broken out into share of viewing by category and by individual streaming distributors.

Methodology and frequently asked questions

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This article focuses on the last two ingredients: What specific technology is the industry using to capture viewing data, and what metrics are media companies and advertisers using to conduct their business?

But first, let’s review a few key tenets of TV measurement.

Tenets of modern TV measurement

Counting every viewer

To assign viewing to the right person, we currently use within our panel what we call a ‘people meter,’ which can take the form of a set-top device with a remote control or a wearable device, like a clip, pendant or wristband. Our first people meter dates back to 1987, and the technology is crucial in an industry where the ultimate focus is on the individual, not the household.

The benefit of having high-quality individual viewer data is two-fold: It provides demographic audience estimates⁴ and it allows us to estimate co-viewing in big datasets.

Two different audience data uses

Now that we’ve examined some of the key technologies used to capture the what and who of TV viewing, what do we do with it?

There are two main users for that data: media buyers (i.e. agencies and advertisers) and media sellers (i.e. publishers and platforms), and each constituency looks at TV measurement from a slightly different angle.

For media companies, the most iconic measure of a TV show’s success — and how the inventory should be priced — has been the rating. It’s synonymous with our company name and a big part of its appeal comes from its simplicity: It’s just the percentage of the (TV-owning) population that watched a particular program or commercial. There are many variations: A rating may be based on live viewing only, live + same day playback, live + 3 days, live + 7 days, or even live + 35 days. And there are ratings for households as well as for specific demographic groups. 

Many of these figures are published daily by the trade press, and we publish a few topline rankings ourselves every week. With more and more people watching TV content in streaming-first homes,⁵ we are starting to size up success in terms of impressions to account for all possible viewing platforms.⁶  

For brands and their media agencies, the objective is to reach a set number of viewers within a particular demographic profile, with the right creative and the right frequency to stimulate interest for their product or service. Frequency control isn’t always easy to achieve, especially when a campaign runs across multiple platforms, and TV advertisers often end up buying gross rating points (GRPs) where reach and frequency are multiplied but frequency remains largely uncontrolled for individual viewers. Ultimately though, advertisers are most concerned with ad impressions. Programs, networks and platforms are vehicles to reach their target audiences as efficiently as possible.

While media companies have an incentive to define TV viewership broadly, advertisers have an incentive to define it narrowly and only pay for impressions that hit their targets. So, how do they meet in the middle?

Current and future measurement state

To transact today, media buyers and sellers rely on average commercial minute ratings that measure the average viewership of all of the commercials that air within a program. The most widely used of those metrics is called ‘C3,’ and it takes into account all live + 3 days’ worth of a program’s playback, typically for all adults 18-49 (viewed as a key buying group), but sometimes for other key demos as well. A similar metric (C7) can be used when 7 days’ worth of playback is deemed to be preferable. 

Two important developments are underway. One relates to the source of the data and the other to the way those metrics themselves are calculated.

These changes will require careful planning and continued testing, but they hold the promise of bringing TV measurement closer to the way that digital advertising is measured today, with media companies able to place a premium on effective ad package positions and advertisers able to measure the performance of individual commercials—and ultimately better manage their media spend.

Notes

¹ I.e., Return path data (RPD) from set-top boxes and automatic content recognition (ACR) data from smart TVs. See Need to know – the pros and cons of big data in audience measurement for more details.
² For more details on the promises of panel + big data measurement, read Need to know – what’s a panel, and why does it matter?
³ Watermarks are source codes that are embedded into content
⁴ TV News Check: Nielsen remains the currency of the TV realm (May 10, 2023)
⁵ Nielsen: Connectivity is driving how Americans are engaging with TV (2023)
⁶ Broadcasting & Cable: Impressions 2.0: the great equalizer (Feb 8, 2022)

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Combined, American audiences streamed just over 4.2 billion minutes of these five shows in that single week. That’s more than 72% of the time that audiences spent watching the top 10 original programs during the same week.

The availability of content in more than one place reflects a shift in distribution strategies—one that has been taking shape throughout this year. During the week of Jan. 2, 2023, for example, none of the top 10 acquired programs were available on multiple platforms. A week later, New Amsterdam hit the top 10 list after debuting on Netflix and Peacock. At the start of fall, almost half of the top 10 acquired titles were available on multiple services.

The pivot to wider distribution strategies is evident across the media landscape, and it reflects a number of factors, none of which are universally applicable.

• Free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels are on the rise, and publishers want to get content where audiences are. In September, the three FAST channels independently measured in the Gauge accounted for 3.2% of total TV.
• The cost of producing a new show doesn’t always pay off. Citadel, for example, had a reported budget of $200 million-$300 million and failed to appear on Nielsen’s top 10 list of most-watched streaming content.
• The summer strikes created a lack of new content this fall. Yellowstone, a Paramount original, has found a new audience on CBS, and the ratings have been strong enough for the network to start running season 2.
• Perspectives about content licensing are changing. While likely a financially motivated move, Warner Bros. Discovery made headlines earlier this year when it licensed a number of HBO titles to Netflix. Incidentally, two of these titles (Band of Brothers, The Pacific) landed on Nielsen’s top 10 list the week of Sept. 18. 

In looking at the widening range of content available to U.S. audiences, the large majority is not exclusive to a single channel or source. TV viewers had more than 1.1 million unique video titles² to choose from as of October 2023, and only 34.7% were exclusive to either a streaming service or a linear channel.

Among the examples of expanded distribution, none stand out like Suits, which recently held the No. 1 spot on Nielsen’s top 10 list for a record 12 consecutive weeks (Ozark previously held the record with 11 weeks at No. 1). During those 12 weeks, viewers watched more than 36.8 billion minutes of the legal dramedy—enough to spark the show’s creator to start developing a follow-up program.

And it’s not just owners of scripted content that are broadening the reach of their content. Helped by the lack of new content this fall and football’s huge fan base, for example, the NFL has amplified the presence of this year’s Monday Night Football (MNF) games by airing them across three different networks.

While the other two days that feature one game (Sunday night and Thursday night) are only being shown on one telecast each week, the NFL is doubling down on Mondays: Weeks 2 and 3 featured doubleheaders on ABC and ESPN, and all other Monday games will air on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. Last year, there was only one doubleheader, and only the first three games were on ABC. In total, weeks 1-7 this year drew a total audience of more than 138 million viewers, compared with just under 112 million from games 1-7 last year.

The viewership data for this year’s MNF games highlights that making content available in multiple places drives higher viewership—especially when not all audiences have access to the same channels and platforms. The strategy is also broadening the demographics of who’s watching, along with some help from Taylor Swift. In aggregate, this year’s first seven Monday games have attracted more than 10 million additional female viewers.

In years past, when there were fewer places to find content—and fewer options to spend money on—content owners and distributors were able to attract larger audiences to a single source.

Today, audiences in the U.S. have more than 32,200 linear channels and 89 streaming video sources³ to choose from, and viewers are exploring them all. This reality presents a much different scenario than when audiences spent most of their TV time with aggregated, provider-chosen options within a single environment.

While the dispersal of viewing is unique from a historical perspective, audience measurement data provides evidence that reach and engagement increase when content is available across channels—and distribution trends are following suit. As the industry begins to look ahead to next year’s content and advertising plans, taking these changes into consideration could help, especially in a year when new content will likely be limited. 

For publishers, finding new opportunities to license content can grow buzz and viewership around existing content. Understanding these new patterns for audience engagement will be critical for advertisers and agencies when considering where to reach viewers in the year ahead—especially as they navigate the quickly evolving FAST landscape. But while program-level engagement highlights broad viewing trends, advertisers and agencies should explore channel-specific viewership for the insight they need as they plan and execute their ad buying strategies.

Looking for channel-specific viewership? Check out Nielsen’s Streaming Content Ratings for show-specific TV viewing data. 

Sources

¹Acquired titles are those that have been licensed from other content owners after first airing somewhere elsewhere first. For example, audiences can find S.W.A.T., a CBS original, on Hulu, Netflix and Paramount+.
²Gracenote Global Video Data
³Gracenote Global Video Data; October 2023. Each channel represents a unique source of linear programming, such as ABC and Flicks of Fury, an original channel on Pluto TV. Each streaming video source represents an individual provider, such as Netflix and Disney+.

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As the television landscape evolves, access to local sports is changing—and the price point for some fans couldn’t be better: free. How is this possible? As audiences continue to migrate away from traditional cable packages, a handful of teams are partnering with local TV stations to provide fans with free over-the-air (OTA) access to local games.

While the cost—and access—is a breath of fresh air for sports fans, viewership is the motivating factor for sports teams—something that has been declining in recent years because regional sports networks (RSNs) content is bundled in traditional cable and satellite TV packages.

Over the past year, a handful of professional sports teams have entered deals that provide all fans in their broadcast regions the ability to watch local games for free via digital OTA antenna:

• Phoenix Mercury (WNBA)
• Phoenix Suns (NBA)
• Utah Jazz (NBA)
• Las Vegas Golden Knights (NHL)
• Arizona Coyotes (NHL)

These teams aren’t alone in realizing the reach that traditional broadcast programming has. Many MLB teams, for example, broadcast a portion of their games exclusively through local TV stations in combination with cable. The New York Mets, for example, broadcast 24 of the games in their 2023 season exclusively on WPIX; the other 124 were broadcast across SNY, a local RSN. And not too far away, the Philadelphia Phillies broadcast 12 of their 2023 games on local TV.

In choosing to broadcast some games through local stations, the Mets added 17% to their total reach throughout the 2023 season. We see a similar trend in Philadelphia, as the Phillies added 13% to their total reach during the regular season by broadcasting a selection of games through the market’s local TV station. Combined, approximately 950,000 viewers of 2023 Mets and Phillies games watched only through traditional broadcast programming.  

TV rights deals that provide non-cable audiences with access to local games aligns with how fans watch TV. As of September, only 46% of U.S. homes¹ access programming through a traditional cable or satellite service. That’s down 23.6% since September of 2021.

The shift to OTA broadcasting by the Mercury, Suns, Jazz and Golden Knights marks a return to how local games were televised before RSNs became commonly distributed through the expanded basic tiers of cable programming in the 1990s. The new deals, however, do more than just take a page out of the history books. Each comes with a companion direct-to-consumer streaming option as well, which also aligns with the growing number of homes that get their programming from broadband internet service, as well as viewers’ time streaming. In both July and August of this year, streaming accounted for more than 38% of total TV usage.

While these deals have yet to affect the upcoming NBA and NHL seasons, the Suns-Mercury-Gray Television deal went into effect just in time for the Mercury’s 2023 season, which ended Sept. 10. With games available locally through OTA access, the Mercury’s average household audience was nearly 6x larger than during the team’s 2022 season (when local games were broadcast via RSN). It’s also noteworthy that the percentage of OTA homes in Phoenix is more than 7 percentage points higher than the national average.

As the Phoenix Suns and Las Vegas Golden Knights begin their 2023-24 seasons, we can see the potential reach gains associated with transitioning to broadcast telecasts. Through their RSN broadcasts, the Suns reached an average of 2.24% of the market’s TV viewers per game last season, while the Golden Knights reached an average of 2.16%. And to ease the viewing transition for fans, the Suns offered free antennas for local viewing in the lead up to the season. The offer was so popular that the team had to order more.

Amid the evolving TV landscape, the audience has more choice than ever, and the arrival of new platforms and channels amplifies the complexity of knowing what’s on, where to find it and whether there’s a cost to access it. From a local sports perspective, the shift among some teams to OTA broadcasts highlights their focus on ensuring that as many fans can see the games as possible, and at a price point that can’t be beat.

Source

¹Nielsen National TV panel

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This year, in fact, four recent big-budget horror movies debuted on Nielsen’s top 10 list when they became available to streaming audiences.

Given these four films’ large budgets, high-profile casts and well-known directors, they were never in any danger of not being seen by prospective viewers. That, however, is not the case for the thousands of other horror titles that are screaming to be watched. In fact, TV audiences now have nearly 1.1 million² unique horror titles to choose from, which span across six different sub-genres. While the vast majority fall into the general horror category, more than 189,000 fall into the paranormal sub-category.

With that much choice, combined with an ever-growing array of places to find content, it can be challenging for viewers to find something they’re interested in. In fact, 44% of respondents in Nielsen’s June 2023 streaming consumer survey said it’s getting hard to find the content they want because there are too many services available. And what’s more, only 62% say they know what they want to watch when they open their streaming service. 

To help audiences on their content journeys, recommendation engines and top 10 lists have become standard within video on demand (VOD) streaming services. But promoted content carousels typically feature a very small fraction of a platform’s content—and top 10 lists offer perspective into popular titles among all users rather than content specific users might like. Through that lens, it’s not surprising that only 27% of survey respondents strongly agree that menu recommendations are useful in finding something to watch. They believe visuals are more important, as 36% say a title’s thumbnail image is extremely/very important in deciding what to watch.

With consumers increasingly expecting personalized experiences, content owners and streaming services can leverage tools like Gracenote’s Personalized Imagery for thumbnails and Streaming Channels Data to help audiences find content when they aren’t familiar with specific program titles. Descriptive metadata, like Video Descriptors, can also fill in the gaps that traditional program information has. 

The basic program information associated with John Carpenter’s 1978 film Halloween, for example, isn’t capable of helping a platform or service suggest this film to audiences looking for something that interests them at a personal level. That’s because basic program information only includes details like program title, summary, genre, production date, primary cast, run time and country of origin.

But when a platform or service leverages the 30 individual Gracenote Video Descriptors across 10 different content attributes associated with the film, it can facilitate more meaningful content journeys for viewers. These descriptors can also assist in contextual ad targeting.

In addition to helping audiences find content that interests them, metadata will become increasingly important from a competitive, personalization perspective as individual titles become available across multiple services. This trend, while new for many big-budget productions, is very common for mid- and small-budget projects seeking to get as much audience exposure as possible. 

Excluding big-budget films like Nope and Scream VI, non-exclusivity in the horror genre is very common. And when a single program is available in more than one place, the onus of audience engagement is in the hands of the individual services. According to Gracenote Video Data, only one-third of the video titles available in the U.S. are exclusive to either linear TV or a subscription service.

To illustrate, let’s look at Terrifier 2, a break-out success story from last year. Made for approximately $250,000, the independent slasher sequel gained so much media attention because of its over-the-top effects that it ultimately gained widespread theatrical release and grossed $10.6 million in the U.S. alone. Now, as work on a third installment with a 7-figure budget is in development, Terrifier 2 is making the rounds across a number of streaming services in the lead up to Halloween. While some services change their libraries frequently, online streaming guide JustWatch highlights that audiences can find the film on four subscription services and two FAST services. It’s also available for rent on nine services and for purchase on seven.

While the variety of platform choice and access options is key for audiences, services like JustWatch wouldn’t be able to aggregate the options for viewers if it weren’t for granular metadata and unique content IDs that facilitate content searches across the internet—not just within individual platforms.

“The power of metadata isn’t limited to the content or the platform,” says Filiz Bahmanpour, VP of product at Gracenote. “When you do an internet search, it becomes a tool that looks at deeper metadata that helps identify why an audience member might want to watch something. And with metadata today, descriptors even involve things like mood, theme and scenario.”

Combined, the universal ID for Terrifier 2 ensures that audiences can find it, and the 34 unique Video Descriptors provide content aggregators and streaming services with the ability to provide more personalized content journeys for their audiences.

Sources

1. The-numbers.com
2. Gracenote Global Video Data, October 2023

For additional insights, download our latest State of Play report, which focuses on the importance of data-driven personalization and streaming content discovery.

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Through the lens of overall TV viewing, September looked very similar to August, masking the nuances that illuminate true audience behavior. While total usage was generally flat with August, viewing behavior in September was notably unique. That uniqueness stems from changes in audience composition. With all kids and teens now back in school, for example, streaming usage dipped by double digits among school-age viewers. Comparatively, the arrival of college football and a new NFL season provided a big boost to broadcast viewing among 18-54 year olds.

Notable channel-level viewership shifts in September include:

• Broadcast viewing among 12-17 year-olds increased 26% (albeit from a small base)
• Broadcast viewing among 18-49 year-olds increased by 35%
• Broadcast viewing among 25-54 year-olds increased by almost 33%
• Streaming usage among 12-17 year-olds declined 19%
• Cable viewing among 12-17 year-olds declined 15%

Broadcast TV viewing increased almost 13% in September, bolstered by the return of college and professional football. Within broadcast, viewing of sports programming increased a whopping 360%. The important nuance one level deeper is that the biggest infusion of viewers came from younger audiences: viewing among people under 50 increased 33%, and viewing among people 25-34 increased 47%. Unsurprisingly, the top 20 telecasts involved a football game, a pre-game show or a post-game wrap up.

Sporting events were also impactful for cable, as the genre saw a 25.5% bump in viewing. ESPN carried the top 11 telecasts: 10 were football-related, and the U.S. Open took ninth place. Despite the increased sports viewing, total cable viewing slipped 1.1% from August, led by declines of 10% and 5.9% for the news and feature film genres, respectively.

Streaming viewing declined for the second month in a row, but the Suits phenomenon continued, racking up more than 8 billion minutes of viewing in September. And as it was on broadcast and cable, sports was a factor for Prime Video, which saw a 7.5% bump in viewership as a result of NFL Thursday Night Football and the second season of The Wheel of Time. With the return of TNF on Prime, the two Thursdays with games represented the highest viewing days for Prime Video. Tubi and the Roku Channel were the other two streaming services to see viewing lifts in September. And with the increase in broadcast viewing, it comes as no surprise that linear streaming climbed to represent 5.7% of TV usage—a high water mark for 2023 so far.

With limited new scripted content forthcoming in the short term, sports will remain a prime option for viewers, especially as the new NHL and NBA seasons start in October. Compared with the NFL, NHL and NBA games span broadcast and cable channels, which could play a role in TV viewing behaviors next month.

September data trends with Brian Fuhrer

The Gauge provides a monthly macroanalysis of audience viewing behaviors across key television delivery platforms, including broadcast, streaming, cable and other sources. It also includes a breakdown of the major, individual streaming distributors. The chart itself represents monthly total television usage, broken out into share of viewing by category and by individual streaming distributors.

Methodology and frequently asked questions

The post Sports gave broadcast channels a second straight month of viewing gains in September appeared first on Nielsen.

FAST platforms can take different forms, but channel aggregators like the Roku Channel, Pluto TV and Tubi are the most common and have the greatest reach. Unlike traditional video on demand (VOD) services, FAST platforms stream their programming on a linear schedule, just like traditional cable services (many offer VOD as well).

To build their content libraries, channel aggregators source programs and movies through distribution deals with individual content owners ranging from massive media companies to independent owners and distributors. The Roku Channel, for example, includes channels from NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, MotorTrend, FIFA, the BBC, Jellysmack and Nosey.

The importance of standardized metadata in FAST

While a boon for content-hungry viewers, the wealth of content sourced from different content owners can present challenges for platforms looking to enhance or personalize user experiences when channel counts rise. As of April, for example, Google’s live TV service boasted more than 800 free channels. When there is no standard approach for producing the metadata that describes individual programs and movies, search and discovery isn’t typically optimized at the platform level.

For channel aggregators with massive catalogs of content from an array of distributors, metadata quality, completeness and standardization can ease the process of arranging, sorting and showcasing content in ways that best engage audiences. That’s where metadata normalization and enrichment can help.

Content owners, for example, can apply rich, normalized metadata to the programming they distribute to channel aggregators to ensure that audiences can find it easily. 

Gracenote’s Streaming Channels Data, for example, helps platform customers better enable audiences to find content when they’re not familiar with specific programming titles. This is especially useful for theme- and topic-specific channels, such as true crime, mystery and war. Here, descriptive metadata, program imagery and connected IDs best position programming for viewers interested in focused topics—even when they’re not familiar with specific program titles.

But the importance of metadata normalization and enrichment isn’t limited to program descriptions, attributes, identifiers and context. Imagery is just as important, if not moreso. That’s because imagery is the primary way to merchandise a program or movie to viewers. This puts an enormous burden on image metadata. And because each FAST aggregator has its own user experience, metadata imagery needs to be ample. One metadata image in a single resolution and ratio will not work universally.

Normalizing and standardizing metadata is just a starting point for personalized FAST channels. When combined with individual viewer behavior, metadata can help FAST platforms prioritize what individual audiences see. Roku and the NFL, for example, recently launched the NFL Zone within the Roku Sports experience, which offers football fans a centralized location to find out where to watch live and upcoming games. As live sports continue transitioning to streaming services, audiences will rally around solutions and experiences that eliminate the growing fragmentation of live sports rights across various services and platforms.

In addition to appealing to audiences, FAST channels are increasingly gaining traction with advertisers. In fact, media research house Digital TV Research recently forecasted that global FAST revenue will grow from $6 billion in 2022 to $18 billion in 2028. And given the digital nature of CTV and FAST platforms, rich metadata can enable contextual advertising at scale within the programmatic CTV supply chain to bring immediate value to both publishers and advertisers.

For example, there are 29 individual Gracenote Video Descriptors across 10 different attributes for Top Secret UFO Projects Declassified, which is one of the featured programs on A+E’s Mystery TV FAST channel. In a privacy-first environment void of third-party cookies, these descriptors can assist in contextual ad targeting. Publishers can enable contextual ads by passing unique program IDs in the bidstream when the supply and demand side platforms are enabled to reference these rich content tags.

The streaming industry’s wealth of choice now puts the fate of any platform, service or program in the hands of the audience. And as FAST channel aggregators increase their content libraries, success will hinge on their ability to quickly connect viewers with content they’re looking for. And while advertisers will clearly monitor viewing behaviors across services, they too can improve audience experiences by leveraging data that can better inform their campaigns and deliver more personalized ad messages.

With an array of occasions to celebrate within the upcoming holiday season, content distributors, platforms and advertisers have an abundance of opportunities to up their engagement game with audiences. Halloween is up first, and content metadata can be the key to serving up the right programming, whether it be for party planners, pumpkin carvers, costume shoppers or horror enthusiasts.

For additional insights, download our latest State of Play report, which focuses on the importance of data-driven personalization and streaming content discovery.

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Broadcast and cable viewing increased in August, posting gains of 1.6% and 1.7%, respectively. Broadcast, which experienced its first usage gain since January, benefited from increased “participation variety” (e.g., America’s Got Talent) and “general variety” (e.g., Big Brother) viewing to balance the steady news and drama genres, which accounted for 16.9% and 24.8% of viewing, respectively. Comparatively, the start of the NFL preseason and the arrival of the first presidential debate fueled viewing gains across cable, with sports and news accounting for 6.7% and 20.8% of viewing in August, respectively.

Streaming usage remained strong in August, but the return to school had an oversized effect on the 1.6% monthly dip in usage: Approximately 80% was due to decreased usage among viewers 2-17. Despite the drop in usage among kids, Disney+ had the third- and fourth-most watched titles: Bluey and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, with 4.2 billion and 3.2 billion minutes, respectively. The top two titles, Suits and The Lincoln Lawyer, remained strong, but not strong enough to offset a 4.8% drop in usage on Netflix. Peacock, which also carries Suits, was the biggest gainer, with usage rising 8.3% as a result of events like WWE SummerSlam, shared coverage of the NFL Hall of Fame Game and the success of The Super Mario Brothers Movie. While not included in the streaming category, linear streaming represented 5.1% of TV usage in August (please refer to the methodology for more information).

Despite its current stronghold with viewers, streaming platforms will see more competition in September as both the MLB playoff race narrows, and broadcast and cable benefit from broader coverage of new NCAA and NFL football seasons. With new scripted content in shorter supply this fall, it will be interesting to see how audiences navigate what remains a very vast and expanding TV landscape.

August data trends with Brian Fuhrer

The Gauge provides a monthly macroanalysis of audience viewing behaviors across key television delivery platforms, including broadcast, streaming, cable and other sources. It also includes a breakdown of the major, individual streaming distributors. The chart itself represents monthly total television usage, broken out into share of viewing by category and by individual streaming distributors.

Methodology and frequently asked questions

The post Sports and news boost broadcast and cable viewing in August; streaming declines as kids head back to school appeared first on Nielsen.

Compared with the general population, Hispanic adults spent 27.3% more time with TV connected devices (CTV)¹ in first-quarter 2023. Notably, Hispanics have been leaders in CTV adoption for quite some time. As of May 2023, only 42% of Hispanic TV homes were traditional cable homes, down from 49% a year earlier².

In addition to providing significantly more choice than traditional linear channels, streaming services have the ability to offer more of the diverse, representative and accessible content that Hispanic audiences are looking for.

Given their outsized CTV appetites, it’s no surprise that Hispanics find more of what they’re looking for on streaming platforms.

In the U.S., approximately 84% of the 1 million video titles³ available to audiences are on streaming services. But why are these services and content resonating so deeply with Hispanic audiences? The answer is volume and choice. And among the seemingly endless array of choice, Latinos find the most representations among dramas and documentaries⁴, highlighting a perceived lack of authentic Latino portrayals in many of television’s most-watched genres, including comedy, reality, news and sports.

Importantly, Nielsen’s most recent Attitudes on Representation in Media Survey found that Hispanic audiences are 19% more likely than the general population to say they feel underrepresented in TV and films. Hispanic representation in media is low, as data from Gracenote Inclusion Analytics shows that Hispanics had an 8.5% share of screen⁵ in streaming content in the first half of 2023, which is well below their representation in the U.S. population.

Comparatively, share of screen on broadcast was 22%. The downside there is that Hispanic adults spend the least amount of time watching traditional live and time-shifted television programming. Notably, Spanish-dominant Hispanics still spend 28.2% of their time on broadcast TV—an important cultural touchstone.

Even with nearly 800,000 titles originally produced in Spanish to choose from, nearly 30% of Hispanics say they have trouble finding something on TV to watch. In fact, our latest Attitudes on Representation on TV Study found that Hispanic audiences were the most likely to say that representation has declined in accuracy since 2021. This suggests that even though representation is increasing, especially on traditional TV, Hispanics don’t view it as accurate.

Understanding and respecting the diverse dynamics within the Hispanic community is not just a social responsibility; it’s a pathway to success. To build trust, improve representation and forge stronger connections with this growing community, brands and media companies must invest time and effort in understanding and meeting the unique needs of the Hispanic audience.

For additional insights, download our latest Hispanic Diverse Intelligences Series report. 

Notes

¹CTV refers to any television that is connected to the internet. The most common use case is to stream video content.
² Nielsen National TV Panel
³Gracenote Video Data, June 2023
⁴Nielsen Attitudes on Representation in Media Supplemental Study, 2022
⁵Share of screen, from Gracenote Inclusion Analytics, is the percentage of an identity group that appears on screen.
⁶Gracenote Global Video Data
⁷Nielsen Scarborough USA+ 2022, Release 2

The post Hispanics lean into streaming, but still find accurate representation lacking in media appeared first on Nielsen.

Hispanics are streaming trendsetters

Hispanics spend the most media time with television, but their engagement with TV is rooted in what they watch on streaming services.

61% of Hispanics say that streaming is their primary destination for TV viewing.

Hispanics spend 22% less time with live and time-shifted TV content than the general population.

Hispanics spend 48.9% of their TV time with streaming content.

Data sources: Nielsen National TV Panel; Streaming Platform Ratings

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Building better content experiences

This report breaks down how to enhance channel programming, tailor recommendations and customize user experiences across FAST channels and beyond.

The trust factor

The Latino community’s unique connection with content is driven by trust.

The keys to connections

Understand the factors that lend authenticity and affirm credibility.

Close the diversity gap

There are perceptions that Latinos feel underrepresented in many of television’s most-watched genres.

The Hispanic audience insights you need

Download the Hispanic audiences in focus report and understand what drives media consumption and trust.

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