Super Bowl Sunday Sets Records, Streaming Climbs to Six-Month High, according to Nielsen's February 2024 Report of The Gauge™

NEW YORK, March 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nielsen today released The Gauge™ report for February 2024, which revealed that TV consumption began its seasonal downward trend as overall usage fell 6.4% from January. The considerable usage decrease, however, was countered by a record-setting Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 11, which not only captured the largest Super Bowl audience in history, but also recorded the most-viewed day of TV ever reported in The Gauge (since May 2021).

While usage fell across each of the primary viewing categories in The Gauge, streaming exhibited minimal impact with a 1.9% decline that resulted in a 37.7% share of TV (+1.7 pts.). Paramount+ saw the most monthly growth from a platform perspective (+24%, +0.2 pt.) due in part to carrying a livestream of CBS' Super Bowl broadcast, as well as from the 1.2 billion viewing minutes captured by Halo. YouTube achieved a platform-best 9.3% share of TV usage (+0.7 pt.), and FAST services exhibited exceptional strength with PlutoTV up 10%, Tubi up 8.3% and the Roku Channel up 8.1%.

From a streaming content perspective, acquired titles attracted the most viewership in February, with Young Sheldon (Netflix, Max) topping the rankings with 4.6 billion viewing minutes, followed by Bluey (Disney+) with 4.5 billion and Grey's Anatomy (Netflix) with 3.5 billion. Netflix's Griselda represented the top streaming original title with 3.2 billion minutes, ranking fourth overall this month.

Broadcast viewing in February fell 10% vs. January and the category lost 0.9 share points to account for 23.3% of TV. On Super Bowl Sunday, however, the broadcast category made up over 43% of total TV usage, led by Super Bowl LVIII on CBS which generated nearly 30 billion viewing minutes alone. In addition to drawing over 17 million viewers for the Grammys, CBS also attracted solid audiences for new scripted programming including Tracker, NCIS, FBI and the final season of Young Sheldon.

Cable exhibited its smallest share to date with 27.6% of overall TV usage. Cable news viewing increased 7% as audiences tuned in to election year coverage, while sports viewing was down by about one-third. However, the sports genre still delivered the top programs for cable, with the 2024 NBA All-Star Game on TNT, TBS and TruTV taking the top slot, followed by NBA All-Star Saturday Night on TNT and TruTV.

Linear (live TV) streaming via MVPD and vMVPD apps represented 6.2% of total television usage in February. Linear streaming is included in the appropriate broadcast or cable category, and is not included in the streaming category.

About The Gauge™
The Gauge™ is Nielsen's monthly snapshot of total broadcast, cable and streaming consumption that occurs through a television screen. Underpinned by Nielsen's National TV measurement and Streaming Platform Ratings services, in addition to complimentary insights from its Streaming Content Ratings service, The Gauge provides the industry with a holistic look at the various content audiences are watching. The latest edition of The Gauge is always available at 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. Nielsen operates around the world in more than 55 countries. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram).

SOURCE Nielsen