Nielsen's The Gauge: Monthly Total TV and Streaming Snapshot for February Details Linear Uptick as News and Sports Consumption Grow

Cable and broadcast news viewing spike 54% and 6% respectively as Russia invades Ukraine

NEW YORK, March 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) announced that The Gauge, its monthly total TV and streaming snapshot, revealed that in February 2022, both cable and broadcast news viewing in the U.S. spiked as Russia invaded Ukraine. Cable viewing increased 54% during the last week of February, helping news gain one-fourth of all cable consumption, representing a 16.5% overall month to month increase. Comparatively, broadcast news increased by 6% to 15% in the final week of the month, elevating the genre to the second-largest behind drama.

Broadcast television gained its highest weekly share of viewing since October 2021 at 28.7%, primarily off the heels of a compelling Super Bowl, which accounted for 39% of total broadcast viewership during the week of February 7. Overall sports programming viewership increased during the Winter Olympics, capturing 20% and 23% of total broadcast usage during the weeks of February 1 and February 14, respectively. Despite the sports-induced broadcast viewership increase seen in February, total television viewing was down 5.7% from January, below the 5% average decrease over the past five years.

The "Other" category—which includes and is reflective of video game usage—gained almost a full share point due to increased time consumers spent gaming during the Presidents' Day holiday and other winter breaks in the U.S.

Measuring and monitoring consumers' streaming behavior in a comparable way against linear TV usage is a critical 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 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.Learn more at www.nielsen.com or www.nielsen.com/investors and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

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SOURCE Nielsen