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The Gauge Shows Seasonality, Sports and Streaming Content Drive Shifts in Viewing

3 minute read | July 2021

Seasonality, sports and new streaming content drove shifts in viewing share across broadcast, cable and streaming on television screens in June, according to The Gauge. Launched last month, Nielsen’s monthly total TV and streaming snapshot shows that the conclusion of the traditional broadcast season may have provided an opportunity for sports on cable  (NHL, NBA, MLB) and streaming to each gain a percentage point of viewership.

The infusion of new content on streaming may have encouraged viewers to stay longer, putting Netflix in the top slot with 7% of total television and Disney+ grew one percentage point to 2%. 

Take me to the methodology details below.

“It’s really interesting to see the traditional drivers of sporting events and seasonality intermingle with the new dynamics of streaming strategy play out in real-time. The first version of The Gauge set a baseline, but trending it over time should give us even more important insights,” said Brian Fuhrer, SVP, Product Strategy at Nielsen.

Watch the video to hear Brian discuss how television consumption is changing as we enter the summer and what that might mean for streaming services and other content creators.

 

Methodology

The Gauge is a monthly interval showing the Total Usage of Television (TUT) for Broadcast, Streaming, Cable and Other with a Streaming channel drill down.

  • All other TV includes: The primary components of this are AOT (ALL Other Tuning), VOD, Streaming through a cable set top box, Gaming, and other device (DVD Playback) use. 
  • Other streaming is any high bandwidth (video) streaming to the television not listed.
  • Statistics: Share by category, Share of TUT broken out for Streaming Distributors
  • Streaming via Cable Set Top Boxes does not credit the respective streaming distributors, but instead is included in the “All Other” group.  Crediting individual streaming distributors is something we continue to pursue as an enhancement to our Streaming Meter technology.
  • Data used is derived from two separately weighted panels and combined to create the infographic. Streaming data comes from a subset of TV households in the National TV panel that are enabled with the Streaming Meter, while linear sources as well as total usage are based on viewing from the overall TV panel.
  • All data is based on time period viewing sources.
  • Hulu includes viewing on Hulu Live. Youtube includes viewing on Youtube TV.
  • Encoded linear streaming is reflected in both the linear (broadcast, cable) group as well as under the respective linear streaming app (e.g. Hulu Live, Youtube TV, Other Streaming MVPD/vMVPD apps
  • Data are based on a combination of Live+7 for Weeks 1-3 and Live+3 for Week 4 

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