Nielsen: NBCUniversal Dominated August TV Consumption, Led by Paris Olympics
September 24, 2024
NBCUniversal took a commanding lead in TV watch-time among media companies in the August Media Distributor Gauge report, Nielsen’s monthly view of total television consumption by media company. On the strength of its presentation of the Paris Olympics across multiple distribution channels, including streaming, NBCU added 3.9 points to notch 13.4% of total household TV usage in August, setting both a personal-best and a new record for the Media Distributor Gauge (since calculations began in November 2023).
NBCU’s platforms generated double-digit viewership growth across the three main channels that televised Olympics coverage: USA Network viewership jumped 47%, Peacock streaming was up 39%, and viewing across NBC broadcast affiliates rose 62%. Additionally, the Democratic National Convention also provided a boost as MSNBC’s coverage of the four-day political event lifted network viewership by 43% compared to July levels.
In addition to NBCU, two more media companies saw positive share changes in August. After topping all media distributors in July, YouTube’s watch-time was up 2% in August to finish the month with 10.6% of TV — another high-water mark for the streaming platform. The Roku Channel saw a 3% bump in viewership and added one-tenth of a share point for a platform-best 1.7% of TV usage.
Combined with the fact that audiences turned their attention to the Olympics, many of the remaining media companies were affected by typical August viewing trends in an otherwise atypical month of TV consumption. With new seasons of football and broadcast programming on the horizon, Disney, Paramount and Fox all experienced the end-of-summer lull in viewership in August, and finished with 9.5%, 7.1% and 6% market shares, respectively.
Few measurement cycles are likely to rival the impact the Paris Games had on TV consumption throughout July and August, according to Nielsen. While the quadrennial global sports spectacle is an outlier from a cultural and TV programming perspective, NBCU established a successful blueprint for reaching consumers, which could prove to be an important media milestone into the future, according to Nielsen.
Subscribe HERE to the FREE Media Play News Daily Newsletter!