Nielsen's The Gauge: Monthly Total TV And Streaming Snapshot For October

Broadcast and streaming neck and neck as sports and new content continue to attract viewership according to The Gauge

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Nov 18, 2021, 10:07 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) announced that The Gauge, its monthly total TV and streaming snapshot, revealed that in October 2021 the broadcast share of consumer's total TV increased 2% from September 2021 and now accounts for 28% of their total screen time.

The increase was primarily driven by strong ratings from a hard-charging NFL season and a compelling MLB World Series. Broadcast sports has enjoyed a 22% increase (compared to September 2021), and it shows no signs of fumbling. For the month of October, the top 10 most watched broadcast programs were all NFL games.

In terms of streaming, according to data from Nielsen's Streaming Platform Ratings, the foundation of The Gauge's streaming insights, streaming platforms also accounted for 28% of consumer's total TV time.

Looking at the platforms themselves, Netflix gained ground, increasing 1 percentage point to command a 7% share of total TV time. The uptick was bolstered in part by high-profile content, such as Squid Game, You and Maid. The rest of the platform lineup, composed of YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Disney+, all remained steady in their share of consumer time.

Measuring and monitoring consumers streaming behavior in a comparable way and putting it in context with linear TV usage provides a critical perspective for the industry as content creators, media companies, streaming platforms, advertisers, industry groups, talent agencies and the talent themselves all seek clarity around the various video content that consumers engage with.

About The Gauge
Nielsen's The Gauge is underpinned by both its TV ratings service as well as Streaming Platform Ratings, the latter provides clients with measurement detailing the amount of time consumers spend streaming and on which platforms. This broad look at platform usage provides complimentary insights to Nielsen Streaming Content Ratings, which details viewing to subscription-based video on demand (SVOD) content at the title, program and episode level. By showcasing both the micro and macro-level data sets, the industry has a full picture of how this media is being consumed, as well as when and by whom. Nielsen's approach to audience measurement, which leverages a geographically representative panel of real people and big data, is built for the future of media consumption. With The Gauge, the future of TV consumption is visible in a single view. The latest edition of The Gauge is always available at www.nielsen.com/thegauge.

About Nielsen
Nielsen shapes the world's media and content as a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their audiences—now and into the future.

An S&P 500 company, Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) operates around the world in more than 55 countries. Learn more at www.nielsen.com or www.nielsen.com/investors and connect with us on social media: Linkedin / Twitter / Facebook / Instagram

SOURCE Nielsen