Nielsen’s latest edition of The Gauge reports a 20 percent rise in broadcast viewership in the U.S. in September, marking the largest monthly increase in the history of the report, driven by the return of NFL and college football.
Sports viewership tripled to represent 33 percent of broadcast’s total in September, up from only 11 percent in August. Fifteen telecasts—all NFL games across CBS, FOX and NBC—in September outpaced August’s most-watched telecasts.
On cable, sports viewership increased by 11 percent in September, and NFL games also dominated the category’s most-watched telecasts. The top five cable telecasts in September included four Monday Night Football games on ESPN and the first international NFL game of the season on NFL Network.
The primary driver of September cable viewing, however, was news, which increased 9 percent and represented over a quarter of cable viewing’s total.
Viewing gains for both broadcast and cable were driven by younger audiences. The largest monthly increases for both categories came from 25- to 34-year-olds. Broadcast viewing among that age group climbed 65 percent, and cable viewing was up 16 percent.
Streaming continued to dominate TV usage, with 45.2 percent of total watch-time taking place on streaming in September. The impact of football extended into this category, as well, especially with Prime Video, which achieved its most-watched NFL Thursday Night Football Game ever on September 11, generating over 3 billion minutes viewed.
Fewer high-profile content releases on streaming saw a reduced number of billion-minute titles in Nielsen’s weekly Streaming Top 10, where a streaming-heavy July saw 18 titles exceed one billion weekly viewing minutes, compared to just ten titles in September. That being said, Netflix’s Wednesday dominated streaming titles with over 7 billion viewing minutes across the month, nearly doubling that of the number two title, Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters.
While YouTube felt the back-to-school impact from 6- to 17-year-olds, declining 2 percent versus August, it still remained the most-watched streaming platform and represented 12.6 percent of television viewing in September.