Nielsen’s The Gauge: Streaming Nabs Largest Share of TV Ever

In November, time spent watching TV in the U.S. reached a nine-month high, according to Nielsen’s latest report of The Gauge, as viewing levels increased 5 percent compared to October to reach the largest monthly viewing total since February.

Broadcast viewing in November was up 3 percent, accounting for 23.7 percent of time spent watching TV. The first week of the interval was the most dominant for the broadcast category as it featured Games 3, 4 and 5 of the MLB World Series on FOX, in addition to the usual slate of NFL and college football games. This more concentrated week of broadcast sporting events lifted the category to a peak share of 24.9 percent of TV in the first week of the month and helped increase broadcast sports viewing by 34 percent over October.

Coverage of the presidential election, meanwhile, drove viewing increases in the second week of the month, most notably for cable. Cable finished with a 25 percent share of viewing in November, but its share during the week of the election jumped to 26.5 percent of TV with much of the increase attributable to cable news. Cable news viewing was up just 1 percent on a monthly basis, but gained from 36 billion viewing minutes to 48 billion viewing minutes between weeks one and two (up 32 percent).

Streaming viewership increased 7.6 percent in the November period. The category posted a record share of TV with 41.6 percent. The Gauge attributes some of this increase can be attributed to viewers seeking solace from the atypical, election-fueled news cycle covered by many traditional TV networks, and was also illustrated by the streaming category reaching 42.6 percent of TV viewing during the third week of the interval. Netflix also saw peak viewership during week three when it hit 8.5 percent of TV, compared to its overall monthly share of 7.7 percent.

Three streaming services garnered platform-best shares of TV in November, including The Roku Channel (up 12 percent to 1.9 percent of TV), Prime Video (up 10 percent to 3.7 percent of TV) and YouTube (which secured a new category record with 10.8 percent of TV). Peacock drew the largest monthly increase among streamers with 1.5 percent of TV, up 0.2 points.

The interval measured in the latest report ended on November 24, so the typical Thanksgiving holiday surge in TV viewing will be included in the December report of The Gauge.