Nielsen's The Gauge: Monthly Total TV And Streaming Viewing Snapshot For August Shows Back-To-School Influencing Streaming Behavior

Children heading back to the classroom pushed pause on the continued growth of streaming in late summer

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Sep 16, 2021, 12:54 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) announced that The Gauge, its monthly total TV and streaming snapshot, unveiled that in August 2021, streaming maintained a 28% share of total TV viewing, compared with broadcast TV (24%) and cable (38%).

The August data shows that after three months of steady growth, the share of streaming detailed in The Gauge remained static.

Two influencing factors counterbalanced, underpinning this month-over-month consistency in share over the platforms. First, children 6 to 17 years old, who headed from their flat screens to the blackboards, viewed about 7.5% less. The declines predominantly affected younger-skewing platforms, with more adult-oriented platforms actually seeing month-over-month gains.

Offsetting this viewing shift among children was a 0.5% increase in overall TV viewing. This was buoyed by adults tuning in to broadcast programming, such as the Olympics, which drove a 2.9% viewing increase in this category.

Tracking the trajectory of streaming consumption—and viewing it alongside other TV usage—has become a crucial source of information 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 Video 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 Holdings plc (NYSE: NLSN) is a leading global data and analytics company that provides a holistic and objective understanding of the media industry. With offerings spanning audience measurement, audience outcomes and content, Nielsen offers its clients and partners simple solutions to complex questions and optimizes the value of their investments and growth strategies. It is the only company that can offer de-duplicated cross-media audience measurement. Audience is EverythingTM to Nielsen and its clients, and Nielsen is committed to ensuring that every voice counts.

An S&P 500 company, Nielsen offers measurement and analytics service in nearly 60 countries. Learn more at www.nielsen.com or www.nielsen.com/investors and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

SOURCE Nielsen