While not every publisher can afford to bid for sports rights, the field of content destinations is far more expansive than it was just four years ago—and sports rights are steadily headed to streaming services, including select, high-profile NFL playoff games.

And at the same time, some publishers that once expressed little interest in live sports have changed position and are now staking claim to what remains the most watched content on TV. Netflix, for example, has hosted two live sports events since November, ending an extensive period of previously abstaining from entering the space.

Not every event, however, has the notoriety of the Super Bowl, Thursday Night Football and Netflix’s recent Netflix Slam tournament—an important consideration as the new MLB season kicks off, which features 30 teams that each play 162 games. Die-hard fans of the New York Yankees, for example, will need access to three traditional TV networks (YES Network, ESPN, FOX) and three streaming services (Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, MLB TV) if they want to catch all of the season’s on-screen action. On the west coast, fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers have even more to navigate, as their 2024 season will be televised across ABC, CBS, ESPN, FOX, FOX Sports 1, SportsNet LA and Apple TV+.

And outside of major markets like New York, Boston and Philadelphia that can sustain regional sports networks (RSNs) because they have major teams across the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, teams and leagues in smaller markets have started striking over-the-air broadcast rights deals with local TV stations while simultaneously offering games direct-to-consumers via streaming apps.

The bottom line in this extremely fragmented market is that live sports command massive audiences, but only if the audiences can find the games. A recent web search, for example, noted that a recent NHL game between the Arizona Coyotes and the Washington Capitals was on ESPN+, but the results proved to be incorrect—a frustrating experience for anyone outside of the local markets looking to watch the matchup.

This is not a unique example, nor will it be the last. The proliferation of services and the drive for monetization with high-profile content suggests that the future will grow even more fragmented. 

When Nielsen launched The Gauge, for example, streaming accounted for 26% of our total time with TV, and only five services had enough viewership to warrant being independently reported. Two of the services also didn’t include advertising. In January 2024, by contrast, streaming accounted for 36% of TV usage and 11 services are independently reported (and all either include ads or have ad-supported subscription tiers). And what’s more, four have exclusive rights to select sporting events, as do ESPN+ and Apple TV+.

At a very high level, a single season of the five major sports leagues in the U.S. includes thousands of games. The MLB, for example, has nearly 2,500 in a single season. Historically, audiences would be able to find complete game listings in the weekly TV Guide, but today, not even the internet can keep up with program information for live sports schedules. And on the flipside, publishers are typically focused on providing information solely for the contests that they host.

This is where consumer electronics makers (OEMs), MVPDs and digital service providers can take the lead—and ultimately win with audiences and rights holders. With a clear understanding about the power of live sports, which remain the largest driver of audiences, these organizations can deliver information about live sports and related content across over-the-top platforms, giving audiences comprehensive, real-time information for a streaming-first media landscape.

A version of this article originally appeared on sportsbusinessjournal.com. 

Source

¹Services are independently reported once usage represents at least 1% of TV usage. 

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Following seasonal viewing trends that typically begin in February, overall television usage in the U.S. dipped again in March. Despite declines across categories, cable and streaming saw their share of TV viewing increase in this month’s report of The Gauge^TM as a result of smaller declines in viewing in these categories compared with the overall decline of 3% on a monthly basis. While these changes follow similar month-over-month trends from last year, they also point at larger shifts happening to Americans’ media habits. 

The growing influence of women’s sports

Similar to March 2023, the NCAA “March Madness” tournament helped cable viewing hold steady and gain 0.7 share point, as the category saw a 43% bump in sports viewing, to finish the month with 28.3% of TV. However, unlike last year, which was driven almost exclusively by the men’s division, the NCAA women’s games charged onto TV screens this March. 

In fact, the NCAA Women’s Basketball matchup between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the West Virginia Mountaineers on March 25 on ESPN was among the top 10 cable telecasts for the month (seventh overall). The comparable game last year barely made it into the top 100 among cable telecasts. And this didn’t include the Elite Eight, Final Four and Championship games, which took place in April.

The appeal of the tournament among sports fans highlights the impact that high-demand content has on viewership, regardless of platform or channel, and also highlights a larger trend we’re seeing in the rise of women’s sports.

Seasonality or changing media habits?

Beyond March Madness, TV’s February-to-March changes in 2024 are almost identical to the transition we saw last year, reflecting seasonality in viewing as a result of annual changes in weather, vacations, holidays etc. However, we can see evidence of larger transformations affecting the industry as we look deeper into the data.

Following seasonal trends similar to the past few years, broadcast viewing fell 6% in March to finish with a 22.5% share of television. To add some perspective, when Nielsen released the first edition of the Gauge^TM in May 2021, the broadcast category accounted for 25% of television viewing, and despite the continued declines, the category has been fairly resilient, with a less sharp drop than some might have expected.  

Comparatively, streaming viewing declined just 1% versus last month but gained 0.8 share points to finish with 38.5% of television viewing in March. No category has seen a more dramatic shift than streaming on an annual basis, as it’s gained 12% versus a year ago and added 4.4 share points. Some of that shift has come from FAST channel providers (PlutoTV, The Roku Channel and TubiTV), with a considerable portion of the titles being fueled by cable network content. 

So while the cable category may be shrinking in terms of its share of television, cable content remains powerful with consumers. In addition to March Madness, the State of The Union address on March 7, which drew 32.2 million viewers in total (14.1 million on cable alone), reminds us that cable remains a news-driven category as six of the top 10 cable telecasts this month were related to the event. As we look toward November, cable will play a significant role in how audiences connect with news media ahead of the 2024 U.S. elections. 

March data trends with Brian Fuhrer

Methodology and frequently asked questions

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This guide provides:

• The keys to success in the FAST ecosystem
• The importance of metadata in FAST
• Ways to future-proof your FAST channel
• A metadata checklist for launching your FAST channel

The post Metadata matters: Powering future FAST channel success appeared first on Nielsen.

Not only has advertising started to flourish as a means of monetization across platforms and services, live, scheduled programming continues to gain traction as content creators, media companies and device manufacturers roll out new free ad-supported television (FAST) channels to a growing number of platforms.

Yet as quickly as some creators may develop and launch a new FAST channel, ideally with a strategic distribution plan, ensuring a channel’s long-term viability is anything but guaranteed.

For starters, the FAST landscape has become incredibly crowded over the last year. Given the rapidly evolving FAST landscape, industry size estimations are varied. According to Gracenote Video Data, there are more than 1,900 individual FAST channels for audiences to choose from, with more than 1,300 in the U.S. alone. For context, there were just 1,000 in the U.S. mid-way through 2023.

That’s 30% growth in eight months. And what’s more, individual FAST platforms, such as Pluto TV, Amazon’s Freevee and Tubi, typically have hundreds of channels within them, providing ample choice within individual electronic program guides.

Industry congestion notwithstanding, viewer engagement and advertising dollars are increasingly focused on over-the-top¹ content that audiences access via their connected TVs (CTV²). In third-quarter 2023, for example, audiences spent just under two hours per day with CTV content³, representing more than 40% of their total time with TV (4:34 per day). 

Time with FAST programming is also growing: Pluto TV, Tubi and the Roku Channel accounted for 3.7% of total TV use⁴ in February 2024. With viewership rising, advertising is following suit. Digital TV Research Ltd., for example, forecasts that global FAST revenue will hit $17 billion in 2029, up from $8 billion in 2023.

Not everyone will benefit from the upswing. More channels does not equate to more viewership. It simply disperses viewership. This is true across the streaming industry, and audiences are overwhelmed. A January Motley Fool survey, for example, found that 62% of audiences say there are too many streaming options, with 39% reporting pulling back on the services they subscribe to on a year-over-year basis.

FAST services stand to benefit from subscription overload, as a 2023 Deloitte survey found that 19% of consumers have switched from a paid subscription to a FAST service. Additionally, Nielsen’s latest streaming consumer survey found that 70% of respondents said they are familiar with FAST and have watched FAST content in the past three months. Access to new content is a primary driver, with 63% saying they have access to traditional VOD services but are interested in exploring new content on FAST platforms.

Yet with the industry intently focused on content monetization, creators, publishers and broadcasters entering the FAST industry need to do more than simply make their programming available to viewers.

The best way to engage and maintain audiences is by offering them something they’re actually looking for. But content isn’t born with an innate ability to deliver itself to audiences. That’s where metadata comes in. But like content, metadata is not homogenous. This is especially the case in FAST services, where individual channels come from an array of distributors.

But when content includes a Gracenote ID, it’s automatically linked to an array of standardized entertainment assets that are critical in fulfilling audience search and discovery journeys. Linked information includes:

• Description
• Genre
• Cast
• Imagery
• Program availability

Still in its early days, the FAST ecosystem is playing catch up with respect to metadata. A recent analysis, for example, found that 31% of the FAST programming submitted to Gracenote did not include any genre information. This, in and of itself, will limit monetization opportunities, as brands and agencies are unlikely to advertise against content without knowing the program genre.

But having the basics is just the beginning. Succeeding in the future will require data enrichment strategies that build on the basics of imagery and descriptions by providing a more complete picture of your content. Additions like mood, theme, scenario and setting provide a new layer of information that can elevate the appeal of programming among audiences looking for something to watch.

Additionally, enriched metadata can help ensure that content stands out as next-generation FAST experiences arrive, including enhanced search and discovery algorithms for recommendation engines—which are now table stakes in traditional VOD environments.

The importance of normalized and comprehensive metadata can’t be over-emphasized. Disney’s recent metadata overhaul to bring Hulu content into the Disney+ app, highlights the immense differences that individual apps and platforms have with respect to content and metadata.

While this exercise took place in the VOD space, it speaks to the myriad approaches to metadata across the streaming landscape and the associated distribution challenges this causes. Having the right metadata partner, however, ensures that content quickly plugs into any platform and offers the richest audience experience possible—including those that have yet to materialize in the FAST ecosystem.

For additional insight into the needs of FAST content heading into the future, download our FAST toolkit. 

Sources:

¹Over-the-top (OTT) refers to streaming video content that audiences access through an internet connection.
²CTV refers to any television that is connected to the internet. The most common use case is to stream video content.
³Nielsen National TV Panel
⁴Nielsen’s The Gauge, February 2024

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In seasonal fashion, TV usage declined in February following the end of the NFL playoffs. While Super Bowl LVIII was a standout that attracted 123.7 million viewers, the 6.4% dip in viewership for the month was considerably larger than it was in the previous two years (5.7% and 5.1%, respectively). This fact, however, is more of a testament to how strong viewing was in January 2024 than in the previous two years.

In addition to attracting the largest TV audience on record, the Super Bowl played a big role in making Feb. 11, 2024, the day with the most TV viewing since The Gauge was launched in May 2021. In total, the game delivered 30 billion viewing minutes—5 billion more than last year’s game. Going into overtime, however, did contribute here.

Outside of the action around the Super Bowl, broadcast viewing receded following its climb into January, with viewing down 10% overall. The sports genre was a major factor in its decline, as sports viewing dropped 66% in the wake of the NFL playoffs. On a year-over-year basis, the overall drop in broadcast viewing is in line with last year’s 9.2% decline. With some new content in rotation, however, the drama category gained momentum to command 26% of broadcast viewing in February. With all eyes on the Super Bowl in February, CBS used the big game to get audiences excited for its new season, featuring Tracker, NCIS, FBI and the final season of Young Sheldon.

Across cable, news viewing increased 7% as audiences tuned in to election year coverage, while sports viewing was down by about one-third. Even without as many sports events, the sports genre still delivered the top programs for cable, with the 2024 NBA All-Star Game simulcast on TNT, TBS and TruTV taking the top slot, followed by the NBA All-Star Saturday Night on TNT and TruTV.

TV viewing typically starts to decline as the spring season approaches. This seasonality affects all TV viewing, but it had less of an impact on streaming in February than the other categories. As a result, streaming usage dipped 1.9%, but the category was able to gain 1.7 share points to account for 37.7% of TV usage, its largest share of total TV since August 2023. It’s also 3.4 share points above February 2023.

As we’re not yet seeing a consistent release of new titles, acquired titles continued to attract the most viewership, with Young Sheldon (Netflix, Max) topping the rankings with 4.6 billion viewing minutes, followed by Bluey (Disney+) with 4.5 billion and Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix) with 3.5 billion. Netflix’s Griselda added some new content to the rankings, coming in fourth with 3.2 billion.

As it does for the broadcast and cable categories, sports has started to make a mark in the streaming category when high-profile events are shown. After gaining in January as a result of its exclusive NFL Wildcard game, Peacock usage dropped 19%, while Paramount+ gained 24% in February as a result of its simultaneous carriage of the Super Bowl alongside CBS. Both platforms have also benefited from the appeal of new original programming, namely Ted and the Traitors on Peacock (1.3 billion minutes combined) and Halo on Paramount+, accounting for 1.2 billion viewing minutes.

February was also a big month for FAST services, as Pluto TV, Tubi and the Roku Channel experienced gains of 10%, 8.3% and 8.1%, respectively. YouTube also posted a platform-best share in February, capturing 9.3% of total TV usage.

February data trends with Brian Fuhrer

Methodology and frequently asked questions

The post Super Sunday delivers a record day of TV viewing appeared first on Nielsen.

Chilly weather, coupled with the excitement of the NFL playoffs, helped boost total TV viewership 3.7% in January. While historically characteristic for the month, the uptick was perhaps more noteworthy because it was 1.4% above its level last year—a reporting period that was longer and wasn’t in short supply of new programming. In fact, January 2024 included three of the top 10 days with the most TV viewing since Nielsen began producing The Gauge in May 2021.

While football is always a heavy driver of TV viewing, colder-than-usual weather played a role in TV viewing in markets that aren’t as seasonally cool, including Tulsa and Portland, where TV viewing increased 10% and 7%, respectively. And in Tampa, the cooler temps and the Buccaneers’ playoff run combined to bolster TV viewing by 14% on a year-over-year basis.

The power of the NFL playoffs also rippled into the streaming landscape, as the Wildcard game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs on Peacock generated almost 3.9 billion viewing minutes (including local viewing in Kansas City and Miami), and helped Jan. 13, 2024 take the crown for having the largest daily volume of streaming on record. In total, January 2024 included nine of the top 10 days with the highest streaming volumes ever recorded by Nielsen, with New Year’s Eve 2023 (which was recorded in the December interval) sneaking in at No. 9.

In addition to colder weather, January welcomed the beginnings of new, scheduled drama programming, which accounted for a 20% increase in viewing on broadcast networks. NBC’s Chicago franchise (Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago P.D.) led the way, representing some of the first “new” scripted content of the broadcast TV season. Combined with a 36% rise in sports viewing, broadcast was able to grow its share of TV by 0.7 share points to end the month at 24.2% of TV. With the arrival of new programming still somewhat limited, however, broadcast viewing was down 20% compared with a year ago.

Cable viewing was up 2.7% in January, but the rise in total TV usage resulted in a 0.3 share point loss to land at 27.9% of TV. Seasonality played a role here, as viewers transitioned away from holiday-themed movies, which led to a decrease of more than 19% in feature film viewership. Comparatively, news viewing picked up, accounting for 19% of overall cable usage, with the Iowa Town Hall on Fox News Channel becoming the only non-sports program to land in the top 10 cable broadcasts (excluding sports commentary). And while sports programming was less prevalent on cable, football games dominated the most-watched programs, including the College Football Playoff game between Michigan and Alabama on New Year’s Day, which took the top spot with 26.1 million viewers.

Like broadcast, streaming also benefited from the return of new scripted programming, with Fool Me Once on Netflix topping the list of most-watched programs with 6.5 billion minutes—the first time an original has topped the streaming charts since Queen Charlotte – A Bridgerton Story did so in May 2023. Bluey, on Disney+, and Reacher, on Amazon Prime Video, were close behind, with 5.5 billion minutes and 4.3 billion minutes, respectively. In total, streaming usage was up 4.1% in January.

At the platform level, YouTube marked its 12th consecutive month as the top streaming service. Peacock saw a 29% spike in usage, driven by NFL playoff coverage, to account for a record 1.6% share of TV. Netflix gained 0.2 share points to end the month at 7.9% of TV, its highest since August 2023, and the 10% increase in Roku Channel usage bumped its share back to 1.1% of total TV.

February, in addition to including viewership for the Super Bowl, will mark the formal start of an abbreviated broadcast TV season, which could offset some of the viewing declines that typically follow the end of the NFL season. With spring not yet on the horizon, the continued arrival of new content across traditional and streaming channels will likely keep audiences engaged until warmer weather arrives.

January 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 Colder weather and NFL playoffs drive increased TV usage in January appeared first on Nielsen.

Letters run rampant across media plans, presentation decks and press releases. But as new media types emerge—along with their subsequent short-hand—distinctions get lost in the mix. When talking about online media, three terms in particular get confused. 

We break down the differences between OTT, CTV and streaming, how advertising works on each, and why they’re more critical than ever for marketers to understand.

How are OTT, CTV and streaming defined?

Are there other kinds of streaming TV? 

OTT and CTV sit at the top of their own acronym iceberg. That’s because there are several subcategories marketers should understand. 

Wait, there’s more! Streaming services are now making room for linear TV, too.  Linear TV refers to scheduled programming that is accessed through a satellite or cable network. These services, in particular, are rising in popularity as viewers have to sift through more  content and platform choices than ever.

• Free Ad-supported Streaming Television (FAST) — An app, service or channel that streams scheduled programming—similar to a linear TV experience—through a connected device. FAST services include The Roku Channel, Tubi and Amazon Freevee. 
• Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (vMVPD) — Services providers that bundle and deliver multiple channels to subscribers over the internet. vMVPD services include YouTube TV,  Sling TV and Hulu + Live TV.

How are ad experiences different across OTT and CTV devices?

Remember, when we talk about CTV, we’re always talking about the TV screen. OTT refers to CTV plus desktop, mobile and tablet streaming. So, naturally, that means CTV devices and all other OTT devices have both distinct and overlapping ad experiences.

Notes

¹As of November 2023, streaming (whether from digital-first or legacy TV companies) accounted for nearly 40% of total TV minutes according to Nielsen’s The Gauge. 

²60% of time spent with TV is on streaming for audiences 18-34 according to Nielsen’s 2024 Upfronts/NewFronts Planning Guide.

³As of 2023, Smart TV penetration is 70.6% among U.S. TV homes according to Nielsen’s National TV Panel

⁴2023 S08 National Survey, September-October

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Unsurprisingly, sports programming is a massive driver of viewership outside of the home, particularly as fans gather for big matchups, global competitions and historic team rivalries. And going forward, OOH viewing will become even more relevant for fans looking to watch games that are exclusive to streaming services they don’t have access to.

Compared with season-long rights deals, like Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video and Apple’s 10-year deal for MLS games on Apple TV+, individual game exclusives might not be enough of an incentive for fans to sign up for a full subscription. This year’s NFL Wild Card weekend games highlight the start of this trend, as one of the six games was exclusively televised on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service. This was the first playoff game that was a streaming-only exclusive, and it featured one of the weekend’s marquee contests: the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Miami Dolphins.

Despite the negative sentiment from fans who didn’t have a Peacock subscription, the high-stakes playoff matchup did inspire a spurt of new subscriptions. In total, the game pulled in a live audience of 22.1 million viewers—a record for a live-streamed event. Yet with only 35% of U.S. households having a Peacock subscription, 3.3 million viewers watched the game away from home. Earlier in the NFL season, the Dec. 23, 2023, contest between the Los Angeles Chargers and Buffalo Bills was also exclusive to Peacock. While not a playoff game, 1.3 million of the total 7.1 million viewers, or 18.3%, watched away from home.

While exclusivity may become more of a factor as streaming services compete for broadcast rights, we know that access isn’t the only reason people enjoy watching NFL games away from home. The league’s popularity is a factor as well, and there’s no denying its broadening appeal in recent years. In the U.S., the percentage of Americans who say they are somewhat or very interested in the NFL has grown more than 6% since 2021¹. And among women, interest has grown 6.8% during the same period.

The increasing popularity aligns with recent viewing trends, as ESPN reported a 7% increase in average viewership this season, tying for the second most-watched season since averages were first tracked in 1995. And while average OOH viewing was flat at 13% with the last two seasons², select high-profile games have boasted percentages that are anything but flat—even when they’re nationally televised.

As this season progressed, for example, some games have garnered as much as 30%-40% of their viewership from people watching away from home—and on days you might not expect it. The three nationally televised games on Thanksgiving, for example, attracted an average OOH audience of 32.2 million live viewers².

The appeal of sports notwithstanding, TV audiences remain engaged with an array of programming genres. In total, broadcast and cable programming attracted a total audience of 185.1 billion (61.2 billion for broadcast; 123.9 billion for cable) in the first 11 months of 2023. And while audiences watch a majority of TV at home, some of the biggest draws last year attracted sizable OOH audiences. The Oscars and the GRAMMY awards, each of which were in the top four broadcast programs of 2023 by viewership, attracted notable live OOH viewership: 1.3 million (8.7% of the total) and 627,000 (6%), respectively. This year’s Golden Globes, another popular award show, boasted a live OOH audience of 553,000 (6.7%).

From a percentage perspective, however, the season 15 finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race captured significantly more OOH viewers than any recent award show: 15.5%. The season 2 premiere of Next Level Chef, the third-most viewed broadcast program of 2023 (as it followed Super Bowl LVII), also captured a significant OOH audience: 2 million viewers (14.5% of the total). Both percentages were greater than the OOH viewership for the recent NCAA football championship (7.3%), the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup final (8.4%) and the men’s final of last year’s U.S. Open (8.1%). It’s worth noting that the FIFA Women’s World Cup final aired at 6 am.

Given the increasingly fragmenting TV landscape, it goes without saying that audience measurement is critical for planning and validating marketing efforts. Sports has always been a big driver of TV engagement away from the home, and other genres are starting to attract OOH audiences as well—all of which become increasingly valuable as they grow. While 8.3% might not sound significant, that OOH viewership percentage for last year’s Academy Award ceremony amounted to 1.3 million viewers—a figure that can only be identified with the right measurement partner.

Learn more about our expanded National TV out-of-home (OOH) panel in 2024.

Sources

¹Nielsen Scarborough USA+
²Nielsen National TV Panel

The post Out of home: the TV audience that’s bigger than you think appeared first on Nielsen.

The growing bounty of content on streaming services has forever changed TV viewing behavior, with streaming consumption now consistently accounting for the biggest driver of TV usage¹. And while the time we spend with TV is largely flat, our time spent streaming video continues to rise. In 2023, U.S. audiences streamed 21 million years’ worth of video, an incredible 21% increase from the 17 million years worth² they streamed in 2022.

Compared with 2022, however, the writer and actor strikes in Hollywood meant that audiences had significantly less new content to binge throughout much of 2023. That, combined with a focus on content monetization across the streaming landscape, helped inspire new content distribution strategies to keep audiences engaged and loyal amid the range of new service offerings. According to Gracenote, audiences had 90 different streaming services to choose from at the end of last year, up from 51 at the start of 2020.

The depth of those services—just under 1 million unique titles worth³—proved vital in 2023, with existing library content becoming instrumental as services carefully rationed the stockpiled originals they had in their arsenals. The environment also inspired new perspectives about content licensing, as titles that were once exclusive to individual platforms began appearing on multiple services—a significant pivot from previous years. Band of Brothers and The Pacific, for example, benefited as a result of this approach, appearing on Nielsen’s U.S. top 10 list the week of Sept. 18, 2023, given their availability on both Max and Netflix.

Diving deeper into streaming viewership trends in 2023, there was no clearer beneficiary of this shift than Suits, which spent a 12-week run in the No. 1 spot on Nielsen’s U.S. top 10 list as a result of its availability on Netflix and Peacock. In total, the program, which originally aired on USA Network from 2011 to 2019, racked up 57.7 billion viewing minutes in 2023—enough to take the crown away from another audience favorite, The Office, which generated 57.1 billion viewing minutes in 2020 amid pandemic-induced lockdowns. NCIS is the other stand-out example of a show with an entirely new life outside of linear TV, landing in the third spot on the acquired list for the year. With its availability on both Netflix and Paramount+, NCIS gained 1.3 million viewing minutes from last year to end 2023 with 39.4 billion minutes.

Unlike the many live-action shows that were affected by the strikes of 2023, an abundance of animation series were not, including Bluey and Cocomelon, which closed the year in the second and fifth spots. Engagement with Bluey, which doubled its viewing time from 2022 to 43.9 billion viewing minutes, was strong enough for it to overtake Cocomelon, which was the top program for kids in 2021 and 2022.

Despite the presence of the writer and actor strikes last year, a handful of originals did come to market, and the U.S. top 10 titles garnered more than 133 billion minutes viewed. The biggest surprise in the list, however, was Ted Lasso, the signature series of Apple TV+ that took the crown as most-watched original program despite the fact that the platform has a smaller relative footprint than the other platforms. Service footprint size notwithstanding, the series benefited from two notable dynamics:

• The buildup to the (assumed) final season
• A progressive lengthening of each episode from 30 minutes in the first season to 45 minutes in season two to 60 minutes in season three, capped by a 76-minute finale.

In the movie category, two highlights stand out among streaming trends:

• Moana, released on Disney+ in late 2019, continues to engage audiences, topping all other movies in 2023 with an all-time high of 11.6 billion viewing minutes after landing in the top four spots over the past four years. Since Nielsen began measuring streaming, audiences have watched nearly 80 billion minutes of Moana, which translates to watching the full movie 775 million times.
• Originally released in 2021, Encanto’s appeal with audiences also continued into 2023 with just under 10 billion viewing minutes after topping the movie list in 2022 with 27.4 billion viewing minutes.

Looking to the year ahead, industry sentiment suggests that, even with the Hollywood strikes behind us, audiences will continue to see less new content than we saw in 2022—the likely high water mark for scripted programming. Given the massive library of existing video titles—more than 1.1 million across linear and streaming—combined with evolving distribution strategies, audiences will never find themselves with nothing to watch. That said, however, streaming will remain a dominant option in the U.S., especially as high-profile sporting events, like the recent NFL playoff game between Kansas City Chiefs vs. Miami Dolphins (which attracted 22.8 million live and same day viewers⁴), become exclusive to streaming services.

Amid the ongoing excitement about streaming, however, it’s important to note that streaming is no longer limited to on-demand programming. The rise of virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs), free advertising-supported streaming television (FAST) channels and apps that offer access to live programming highlights the continued blurring between linear and streaming TV. For example, more than 80% of houses that access TV content from an internet connection watched some form of linear programming in 2023. The takeaway here is that the TV screen remains the biggest device for media engagement, but it’s now a conduit for all content rather than a screen for channel-specific programming.

Want more insights into the time viewers spend watching streaming video content? Check out Nielsen’s Streaming Content Ratings.

Sources

1. The Gauge: Streaming usage accounted for more than one-third of total TV usage in February 2023 and has remained above 35% since May 2023.
2. Excludes linear streaming (live television viewed through apps).
3. Gracenote Global Video Data; October 2023.
4. Nielsen National TV Panel.

The post Streaming unwrapped: Streaming viewership goes to the library in 2023 appeared first on Nielsen.

Nielsen’s 2024 Upfronts/NewFronts Guide revealed that, as of November 2023, more than 18% of U.S. TV households had at least one TV set enabled to receive free, broadcast programming. Given the many content options available to audiences, however, few homes rely solely on their digital antennas for TV content. Most complement their OTA access with content they can access from other sources. Sixty percent, for example, subscribe to a streaming video-on-demand service. The same is true of households that have cable or satellite services: In fact, nearly 4% have at least one OTA-enabled TV set.

While the way in which audiences access TV content continues to evolve, the concentration of OTA homes has remained consistent over the past five years. OTA homes represented 14.5% of U.S. TV households³ in third-quarter 2023.

The consistency of OTA programming access, inclusive of virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs; e.g., Hulu Live, YouTube TV, Sling TV) usage, highlights TV audiences’ ongoing engagement with traditional, linear programming. In fact, approximately 92% of TV households, regardless of classification, watched some form of linear programming between October 2022 and October 2023.

In addition to highlighting the consistent appeal of traditional broadcast programming, the steadfast portion of homes that access this content with digital antennas is a critical audience measurement consideration, especially as big data gains momentum as a measurement source amid rising connected TV (CTV)⁴ usage.

With CTV usage accounting for just over 32% of TV usage among adults 18 and older^5, it makes sense that companies are looking to leverage the data from smart TVs and set-top-boxes from multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs; e.g., DirecTV, Cox, Comcast Xfinity, DISH). We know that these data sources can advance the science of audience measurement, but they don’t capture OTA viewing.

According to Nielsen’s TV universe estimates for 2023-24, the U.S. has 125 million TV households, up 1% from the previous year. That means that just under 97% of U.S. households have at least one TV that is used to watch programming. These households are home to almost 315.3 million people.

Within the TV household universe, 18.125 million are OTA households, and an additional 4.625 million are cable and satellite TV homes that also have OTA-capable TV sets. In total, 22.750 million households access TV content through an OTA antenna—a device that falls outside the scope of big data collection.

The consistent and significant engagement with linear programming is notable for two reasons:

1. The vast majority of TV homes continue to watch traditional, ad-supported programming.
2. Big data sources alone can’t provide insight into the viewing behaviors of the millions of viewers who watch TV using a digital antenna. 

Outside of the national average, OTA usage plays a much larger role in select cities. In Houston, for example, more than 27% of TV homes have at least one TV set enabled to receive free, broadcast programming, with nearly 24% using their antennas as the primary means of watching TV. The percentage of OTA use even surpasses 30% in select designated market areas (DMAs), with Oklahoma City topping the list: 37.3% of TV homes in this market have at least one OTA-enabled TV set.

Combined with person-level demographic information from Nielsen’s National TV panel, OTA audience data provides advertisers and agencies with insight that’s out of reach of big data. Nearly 60% of OTA households that don’t subscribe to a subscription video on demand (SVOD) service, for example, are households of one person, while 45% of OTA households that subscribe to an SVOD service but don’t use a vMVPD are home to three or more people. From an income perspective, however, OTA households that subscribe to an SVOD service and use a vMVPD are the biggest earners. 

Increasing connectivity among audiences continues to play a significant role in how viewers access TV content, but free OTA broadcast programming remains a staple for nearly 20% of U.S. TV households. From a value perspective, advertisers and agencies need insight into the nearly 23 million viewers who lean into this programming—programming that falls outside the realm of what big data captures. As audience measurement evolves to include data from smart TVs and cable boxes, it will be critical that people, not big data, remain the center of the equation.

To learn more audience and programming insights critical for the 2024 Upfronts/NewFronts planning season, read our full guide.

Sources

¹Nielsen National TV Panel; September 2019 vs. September 2023. This percentage reflects the increase in homes that stream TV content from the internet and/or access TV content through a vMVPD.

²Nielsen National TV Panel; October 2023

³This percentage includes homes that may have an vMVPD. Nielsen plans to reclassify homes with a vMVPD as Cable Plus homes in 2024.

⁴CTV refers to any television that accesses content from the internet. The most common use case is to stream video content.

⁵Nielsen National TV Panel; Q2 2023

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