Marketers aren’t confident in channel-level measurement

Across traditional and digital media, marketers have 15 different channels¹ at their disposal. Despite this fragmentation, just under 70% of the global marketers surveyed for the 2023 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report believe they have the right marketing technology to measure the aggregate returns on their investment. The flipside, however, is that their stated confidence in ROI measurement at the individual channel level is much lower—which stands in stark contrast to their full-funnel marketing confidence.

The gap between holistic and channel-level confidence highlights a primary flaw in leveraging channel-specific marketing tools to assess overall marketing effectiveness. Arriving at a single metric for reach and frequency across channels is incredibly difficult, and sentiment from global marketers underscores the inherent complexities, especially across many of the digital channels that marketers are investing more in.

Even when believing in their martech, global marketers acknowledge the problem, with only 54%, on average, expressing confidence in their full-funnel media measurement capabilities (i.e., end-to-end measurement). Confidence is slightly higher in EMEA and slightly lower in Asia-Pacific.

Given the challenges associated with cross-media ROI measurement, such as quality audience data and reduced use of existing marketing technology, 52% of global marketers, on average, are currently solely focused on reach and frequency metrics.

Multiple tools widen process gaps and information silos

To keep up with the growing media options, many marketers report using an array of tools and solutions to measure their campaign performance. This isn’t surprising, but it can complicate the road to holistic measurement. The more tools you work with, the more datasets your systems—and people—have to be ready to ingest. And each one takes time. Add to that the historically different methodologies for linear and digital measurement and it’s clear to see the need and difficulty of arriving at comparable, deduplicated metrics. Globally, 62% of marketers, on average, use multiple measurement tools for their cross-media measurement. Comparatively, just 34% report using one.

Globally, marketers know how important comparable metrics are in understanding the effectiveness of their ad spending. Amid an increasingly rich media landscape that will continue to offer new experiences in the years ahead, marketers should consider tools, solutions and metrics that are media-agnostic to achieve their long-term measurement—and business—objectives. Without a comprehensive view of the audience, marketers won’t have a complete view of campaign performance.

For additional insights, download the 2023 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report.

Note

¹ Traditional: Radio, linear TV, print, direct mail, OOH, cinema. Digital: Email, search, social media, podcast, digital display, digital video, OTT/CTV, streaming audio, native ads.

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The strength of the news cycle helped cable remain largely stable from a usage perspective, as cable viewing was down just 0.6% from March. In fact, news was the only cable genre that didn’t experience a dip in usage. News viewing was up 4.3%, accounting for 19% of cable usage in April. Former President Trump’s court appearance in New York on April 4 fueled daily usage spikes of 93%, 44% and 39% on CNN, FOX News and MSNBC, respectively. On a year-over-year perspective, cable content viewership was down 12% (5.3 share points). 

Broadcast usage dipped 2.7% in April, losing 0.2 share points to account for 23.1% of total TV use. The NCAA basketball tournament and The Masters golf tournament were the most-viewed broadcast programs, but sports viewing did slide 17.1% in aggregate to account for just 9.6% of the category. Dramas attracted a 2.1% viewing increase, driven by titles like NCIS, Blue Bloods and Chicago Fire. On a year-over-year perspective, broadcast viewing was down 3.7% (1.6 share points). 

In the streaming space, competition is causing shifts in usage shares, while seasonality contributed to a 2.1% dip in viewing across the category. Netflix viewing, for example, dropped 7%, translating to a loss of 0.4 share point, despite having the top two programs from a viewing perspective: The Night Agent and Love is Blind. Comparatively, usage increased across the two newest free, ad-supported options in The Gauge: Tubi TV usage grew 6% and Pluto TV usage increased 3.9%. Other highlights:

• While Disney+ viewership was down 1.7%, The Mandalorian was the third-most streamed title in April.
• YouTube, excluding YouTube TV, remained the most-used platform, with usage increasing 1.5% to help the platform capture 8.1% of TV usage. 
• Viewership to “other streaming” resulted in an increase of 0.1 share points in April, with multiple platforms inching toward the 1% threshold to be reported individually.

April data trends with Brian Fuhrer

Methodology and frequently asked questions

The Gauge provides a monthly macroanalysis of audience viewing behaviors across key television delivery platforms, including broadcast, streaming, cable and other sources. It also includes a breakdown of the major, individual streaming distributors. The chart itself represents monthly total television usage, broken out into share of viewing by category and by individual streaming distributors.

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To do their jobs, marketers need information that’s representative of people, not devices or digital signals. However, only 23% of the marketers surveyed for Nielsen’s 2023 Annual Marketing Report strongly agree that they have the quality audience data they need to get the most out of their media budgets. In Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it drops to 21%.

Well aware of how audiences are engaging with media, marketers continue increasing their spending across digital channels, especially CTV, social media and digital video. Without quality audience data, however, many will lack insight into whether they’re reaching the right audiences—the primary cross-media measurement metric of 52% of marketers surveyed for Nielsen’s 2023 Annual Marketing Report. And when we look at where audiences are spending most of their time, time with digital channels continues to grow. 

In fourth-quarter 2022, for example, U.S. audiences spent an average of five hours and 13 minutes per day² accessing media with their digital devices³, accounting for more than 52% of their daily time with media.

The incredible growth of streaming use adds yet another set of data to the cross-media scenario, and some companies are using the data from smart TVs for measurement purposes. There is no discounting the importance of this data, but by itself, this data only tells us what’s on the screen. Without knowing who’s engaged with what’s on the screen, marketers don’t have ample information to make critical ad spending decisions. In fact, a Nielsen study conducted at the end of 2022 illustrates the shortcomings of smart TV data as a measurement source. In short, smart TV data can’t accurately tell you how many are watching. 

When combined with information that details representative, person-level behavior, smart TV data sets provide significant scale to the science of audience measurement. Importantly, the World Federation of Advertisers, the Association of National Advertisers and the comparable organizations in over 30 other nations believe the future of audience measurement should include a combination of quality panels and big data.

The customer has always been the North Star for marketers, and the growing number of media options doesn’t change that. It does, however, place increasing pressure on marketers’ ability to engage with them, especially when there’s a gap between digital signals and actual people. Bridging that gap will be critical as device and channel fragmentation increase. The lack of demographic information in big data highlights the importance of representative, person-level behavior in any measurement solution. After all, without the audience, it’s just data.

For additional insight, download the 2023 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report.

Notes

1. World Population Prospects Report
2. Nielsen National TV Panel
3. Connected TV devices, internet on a computer, app/web use via smartphone, app/web use via tablet

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To do so, the performers plan to get intense with audiences by leaning into energetic moods and shifting away from the neutral moods that were more prevalent last year. In total, seven of this year’s 37 songs fall into the “energizing” mood category¹—the most prominent primary mood descriptor² across all of the entries. While we saw an equal number of “energizing” entries last year, this year’s contest will feature more songs with other energetic undertones.

Last year, for example, “yearning” was the most prevalent mood (there were nine) among the song entries; this year, there are just four. Similarly, there are no songs with a “sensual” primary mood descriptor in this year’s contest; last year, there were five. There are also twice as many songs with “excited” and “defiant” as the primary moods: four and two, respectively.

The shift toward more energetic moods bodes well for competitors, as half of the 24 winning songs between 1998 and 2022 were characterized by five moods at the more energetic side of the spectrum: “energizing,” “excited,” “fiery,” “rowdy” and “urgent.” And in the last decade, seven of the last 10 winning songs have expressed at least one of these moods. This year, 19 of the 37 entries express “energizing,” “excited,” “fiery,” “rowdy” or “urgent” as their main mood.

Of these five moods, “fiery” is the most common among winners since 1998, including last year, when “Stefania,” Ukraine’s entry from hip-hop band Kalush Orchestra, took the top prize. “Stefania” was one of three entries with a “fiery” primary mood.

Dana International’s win for Israel in 1998 with her song “Diva” was the first entry with a “fiery” primary mood descriptor to take the top prize. Her win also kicked off a trend that we’ve seen hold through 2022: 14 winners have featured moods at the more energetic end of the spectrum. Israel’s win in 1998 was also more in tune with the pop music of the time—a shift that has carried through most of the contests in the years that followed.

Comparatively, the winning songs of the first 42 editions of the contest, which started in 1956, were less energetic: Only four of the 45 winners (there were four co-winners in 1969) during this period were songs with more energetic moods. The primary moods of the others had average and below-average energy levels.

In total, this year’s entries cover less emotional range than last year, as the songs cover just 12 primary moods—down from 15 in 2022. Entries are more heavily stacked in the positive and energetic areas of the mood spectrum, which puts more songs in contention to win from a recent historical perspective. In looking at the top 10 contenders to win, based on the odds at eurovisionworld.com, seven exhibit one of the five moods that have dominated in recent years, suggesting that history will likely repeat itself when the final vote is tallied following this year’s contest.

This year’s contest starts May 9, 2023. The semi-finals are May 11, and the final is May 13.

Notes

¹ As categorized by Nielsen’s Gracenote music data
² Gracenote’s Sonic Mood Descriptors feature 25 level one mood descriptors. These descriptors indicate the most prominent and distinct elements in a song, such as rhythm, melody, and timbre. Combined, they provide a “mood profile” of a song, which indicates the primary mood and strength.

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When it comes to brand lift benchmarks like awareness and purchase intent, recall is even slightly more important than a person’s baseline awareness for a brand. In looking at the five key drivers and baseline awareness, brand recall influences 38.7% of brand lift in emerging media; baseline awareness comes in second at 37.5%.

The value of tracking brand recall in emerging channels

Understanding the importance of brand recall in emerging media channels comes at an important time, as global marketers continue to increase their ad spending across digital channels, with social media, native advertising and podcasts leading the way. According to the global survey Nielsen fielded to support our 2023 Annual Marketing Report, global marketers plan to increase their spending across these three media types as follows:

• Social media: 59% planned increase
• Native advertising: 48% planned increase
• Podcasts: 38% planned increase

These planned increases reflect growing audience engagement with digital channels and the fact that global marketers continue to focus on brand awareness and new customer acquisition—a trend that we’ve seen hold steady in each of the annual marketing reports that Nielsen has produced since 2020.

Emerging media’s role in driving overall brand lift

For brands, leveraging these emerging marketing channels can be a gamechanger when the goal is raising awareness. Advertisements in podcasts, for example, have the potential to boost brand awareness by 13 percentage points¹. From a brand awareness perspective, podcast advertising touts an aided recall rate of 71%, significantly higher than the 50% associated with people who aren’t exposed to an ad.

Podcasts, like influencers, offer brands the opportunity to convey their messages through an industry voice instead of their own, which speaks to the uniqueness of these channels. From a brand awareness standpoint, however, Nielsen Podcast Ad Effectiveness data shows that host-read ads perform just slightly better than non-host-read ads. Within the podcast space, host-read ads have a bigger impact in mid- and lower-funnel activations.

Influencer marketing and branded content present similar opportunity, as they have the potential to improve brand awareness by nine and 10 percentage points², respectively. From a brand awareness perspective, influencer marketing boasts an aided recall rate of 79%, notably higher than the 62% unaided recall rate. Similarly, branded content touts an aided recall rate of 81%, significantly higher than the 63% unaided recall rate.

Despite the economic headwinds at the start of the year, nearly 70% of the global marketers surveyed for this year’s annual marketing report expect their budgets to increase. And with a focus on awareness and customer acquisition, marketers are focused on channels that are attracting larger audiences. In the U.S. for example, marketers spent $43.1 billion³ on social media last year, up from just $20.6 billion a year earlier. By tracking brand recall performance, you’re setting up the rest of your funnel up for success. And by understanding emerging media’s role in delivering brand recall and overall brand lift, you have a sharper sense of how to widen your mix and use each channel to their best advantage.

For additional insights, download our 2023 Brand Lift Report: Building Brands with Emerging Media.

Notes

 ¹ Nielsen podcast brand impact norms database, Q4 2022
 ² Nielsen branded content impact norms database, 2018-2022
 ³ Nielsen Ad Intel

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The AANHPI audience has made it clear – through their voices and dollar spend – that they desire for their stories to be seen and heard. In the 2022 Social Tracking of Asian Americans in the U.S. (STAATUS) study — an assessment of attitudes and stereotypes toward Asian Americans — 88% of Asian Americans say they want to see more Asian American characters on TV and in movies, compared with 77% of the total population. Brands and media need to do more to engage the Asian population, and content with Asian representation is winning: Squid Game topped the streaming chart in 2021, Everything Everywhere All At Once dominated the Oscars this year, and in advertising, P&G’s campaign “The Name” and Honda’s “Through the Window” campaign for its CR-V focuses on the Asian American consumer and their unique experiences. Yet, the question lingers: Will the media and marketing industry embrace more AANHPI representation?  

With anti-Asian hate crimes on the rise in the U.S.,¹ advertisers and media companies have a unique opportunity to change hearts and minds. Representation is not only the right thing to do; it makes tremendous business sense.

Connecting with America’s fastest-growing population and their buying power

Among racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., Asian Americans are the fastest growing, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

As the AANHPI population grows, so does its buying power — as well as the demand for representation in both content and advertising. When a company’s ads are seen in Asian-inclusive programming, it illustrates that the brand sees the Asian consumer, and that it values them. Nielsen’s Attitudes Toward Representation research found that Asians are the most likely identity group to say that they are more likely to buy from brands that advertise in content that represents them. 

The advertising dollars from brands help fund the content that gets created. Prioritizing spend in Asian-inclusive content is an opportunity to influence the media and marketing industry; it can also affect how audiences see themselves portrayed.

Our study found that a quarter of brands are investing just 6% or less in the programs with Asian share of screen at or above the representation of Asians in the U.S. population. Brands with the most Asian-inclusive ad spend invest almost four times as much. 

Affinity within AANHPI community

As AANHPI audiences are drawn to content that represents their community in appropriate, accurate and respectful ways, brands that increase their advertising investment in such content stand a better chance of increasing their awareness within the community. Increased investment in advertising is driving affinity for those categories in the AANHPI community. 

For example, Asian Americans are spending more than the general population in fashion, electronics and travel—three of the top categories where brands are investing above-average ad dollars in Asian-inclusive content. Brands in those categories can differentiate themselves through advertising, reaching consumers who are already spending more, but may not already have an affinity for a particular brand.

AANHPI representation drives audience engagement

Winning eyeballs is still a key metric when media publishers are deciding what content to greenlight. When it comes to attracting the Asian American audience, viewers are looking to TV to be entertained and informed just as much as they’re tuning in to feel seen, connected and inspired. About 30% of AANHPI audiences felt more engaged when a show features a cast member who looks like them, Nielsen’s Attitudes Toward Representation 2022 study found. Evaluating Asian representation overall in the top 1,000 TV programs in 2022, we see that streaming video on demand (SVOD) is leading the way, with more than three times the representation of Asians compared with broadcast and cable. No wonder that in January 2023, Asians in the U.S. streamed more content than any other group – 43% compared with 32.8% for the total U.S. population. With people in the U.S. watching more than 19 million years’ worth of streaming video content in 2022 alone, this also opens new opportunities for all audiences to engage with TV programs that include Asians.

In addition, streaming shows with AANHPI representation are engaging all audiences. In 2022, the top streaming programs with high bingeability score that the total U.S. audiences can’t stop watching, also have high Asian share of screen.

Spotlight

With the ongoing racial reckoning in the U.S., where and how brands show up in content matters even more to communities that have historically been left out of American media. Asian audiences who are still reeling from the effects of anti-Asian hate are continuing to search for content that connects with their experience, showing “people like me” — and are more likely to buy from brands they encounter once they find it. Industry investment in inclusive content opens the doors to a more engaged audience ready to watch content and to buy products and services.

For additional insights, download our 2023 Asian American Engagement Report

Note

¹ In March 2023, the FBI reported that anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S. were up dramatically from the year earlier (746 incidents in 2021 – the most recent data available – compared with 249 in 2020.

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Despite global marketers’ plan to increase their CTV spending by an average of 40% this year, their perceptions about the effectiveness of these investments is low. In fact, only 49% of global marketers believe their CTV spending is either extremely or very effective. In Asia-Pacific, perceived effectiveness is just 41%.

Compared with something straightforward, such as fixing a flat tire, measuring CTV and streaming engagement presents an array of challenges, ranging from access to quality data to perceived overlaps with traditional TV to internal knowledge gaps. CTV and streaming also represent a relatively new channel for marketers, which amplifies the difficulty associated with understanding consumer journeys across all channels (i.e., assessing full-funnel media ROI).

“Only 53% of global marketers, on average, are confident in their ability to measure complete consumer journeys”

The benefits of quality audience data

Quality audience data—deduplicated across channels—is critical in any marketer’s quest to track consumer engagement with media. This is a notable challenge for global marketers, as, on average, only 23% say they definitely have access to the quality data they need to get the most out of their media budgets. Comparatively, a much larger portion are only “somewhat” confident in their access to quality audience data. Without quality audience data, marketers will be ill equipped to measure the engagement of their desired audiences.

Access to quality data could address two other challenges that marketers face amid the rise of streaming: overlaps with traditional TV and organizational knowledge gaps. Nearly 40% of global marketers say internal knowledge gaps and understanding audiences between streaming and traditional TV represent areas of difficulty when it comes to advertising across CTV.

The importance of marketing technology 

Marketing technology (martech) represents the other critical piece of the cross-media measurement puzzle. This isn’t news to marketers, but using channel-specific tools to measure channel-specific engagement can make it difficult to understand complete consumer journeys. On average, 62% of marketers globally use multiple measurement solutions to arrive at cross-media measurement, with 14% leveraging four to five.

Utilization of existing martech could also be a hindrance to measurement confidence, as Gartner’s 2022 Marketing Technology Survey Insights found that only 42% of survey respondents said they use the full breadth of their martech capabilities, down from 58% in 2020. Investment in martech is another factor, as 24% of marketers, on average, plan to reduce their investment in martech to some degree, with 12% planning cuts of 150% or more.

Embracing a comparable measurement mindset

Globally, 71% of marketers say that comparability in cross-media measurement is important, yet cross-media ROI measurement remains elusive for many, with streaming and CTV measurement presenting notable challenges. 

To obtain their long-term measurement—and business—objectives, marketers should consider tools, solutions and metrics that are media-agnostic. With the right tools—those that help marketers arrive at a single view of audience engagement—infused with quality audience data, confidence in measurement will rise, and marketers will be better positioned to understand individual media engagement as the landscape evolves.

For additional insight, download the 2023 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report.

Note

¹ Connected TV (CTV) refers to any television that is connected to the internet. The most common use case is to stream video content.

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Somewhat surprisingly, fewer marketers said they would make the knee-jerk reaction of reducing ad spending than leaning into other strategies. Globally, marketers would rather shift spending to digital channels and prioritize performance-based marketing.

For marketers, the uncertain economic outlook adds to the complexity that they’re already facing as they weigh new marketing channels while still lacking confidence in measuring the ROI of their total spending. Specifically, only 53% of global marketers, on average, express being either extremely or very confident in their ability to measure the ROI of their total spending.

In aggregate, marketers’ lackluster confidence in ROI measurement poses two challenges. First, a shift in marketing strategy that prioritizes performance marketing could impede marketers’ ability to deliver on their top objective for the year ahead: new customer acquisition. And on the flipside, lackluster confidence in full-funnel measurement could hamper marketers’ ability to gauge the holistic impact of their marketing if they stay the course and leverage all channels as planned.

The economy might be less of a challenge in actuality, as global marketers do expect their advertising budgets to increase this year, albeit less so than a year ago: 64%, on average, expect their ad budgets to grow this year, with 13% expecting increases of 50% or more. And as has been the case in recent years, marketers plan to continue favoring digital channels, with social media, online video, online display and search ranking highest for planned spending increases. And given the rising popularity of streaming among TV audiences, 84% of marketers globally say they now include streaming in their marketing mix, which adds further complexity to measurement. 

That complexity is reflected in the perceived ROI of streaming among marketers, as only 49%, on average, believe streaming is either extremely or very effective as a marketing channel. The skepticism isn’t surprising, given the relative newness of streaming en masse and the unique requirements associated with measuring it. But it’s not the only channel marketers struggle to validate—it’s just the newest. In fact, perceived effectiveness is relatively low across nine different digital channels.

There are many possible reasons for the muted level of ROI measurement confidence, such as declining use of marketing technology (martech), incomplete audience data, reduced investment in martech and lackluster campaign effectiveness data. Regardless of the reason, however, the survey results highlight a significant accountability gap—one that’s rooted in the complexity associated with cross-media measurement. And the complexity intensifies with every new channel that audiences engage with.

The historically different methodologies for linear and digital measurement underscore the difficulty in comprehensive cross-media measurement. And arriving at comparable metrics across a range of channels becomes increasingly arduous when measurement is channel specific. For example, 62% of marketers report using multiple tools for their cross-media measurement needs, with 14% using for or five. That will make arriving at comparable, cross-media measurement—something that 71% of marketers say is extremely or very important—very difficult, especially as new channels emerge.

Strategically, marketers have one North Star: the audience. Through that single lens, marketers have all the guidance they need to develop effective media strategies. In an increasingly fragmented digital landscape, quality audience data is at a premium—it’s also something that only 23% of marketers say they have access to. Yet without the right audience data, or the technology necessary to measure the effectiveness or impact of their spending, many marketers will remain ill-equipped to navigate where to allocate their spending and measure the outcomes that follow.

For additional insight, download the 2023 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report.

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As anyone who has ever looked for a health care provider or an institution that offers higher education knows, there’s a certain level of unspoken trust associated with organizations that have been accredited.

Simply knowing, for example, that a medical practice or a university has been recognized for adhering to a set of industry-specific standards regarding quality goes a long way in providing an assurance of credibility and value.

The same is true in TV measurement. Advertisers, agencies and publishers depend on it, as it underpins the decisions involving more than $77 billion in TV ad spending¹. At its core, accreditation represents unity and trust in agreed-upon standards throughout the industry. Those standards benefit everyone and bring us together.

By now, you’ve heard the news that the MRC has re-accredited Nielsen for national TV measurement. We truly value this recognition, but it’s critical to highlight the immense amount of work that went into regaining it—work that has restored the industry’s confidence in the measurement data that serves as the primary ad currency in the U.S.

Why do we do this? Trust.

When you consider that people spend more than nine-and-a-half hours each day² with media, it makes sense that content offerings are growing increasingly rich and diverse—and that will continue. TV audiences, for example, now have nearly 1 million unique titles³ to choose from across linear and streaming channels—up from just over 646k titles at the end of 2019. With that much choice available, it makes equally as much sense that new measurement solutions are coming to market to help brands and publishers understand audience engagement.

Yet while audiences revel in the growing wealth of content they have access to, media buyers and sellers have a range of new data options to choose from as they weigh their business decisions. Regardless of whether you’re buying or selling media, the growing number of measurement options leaves many parties wondering which ones they should transact with.

When measurement is audited and accredited by an independent, unbiased third party, those questions never arise. Accreditation also alleviates the need to vet the various options, which can be time consuming and cumbersome. Agreed-upon standards are foundational in bringing the industry together around common interests and objectives. It also narrows the field of what is and what isn’t a measurement currency. That benefits everyone.

The criticality of accreditation is underscored by the high standards associated with gaining—and maintaining—it. Established in 1963 at the request of U.S. Congress, the Media Rating Council (MRC) oversees the accreditation of media measurement products and data sources in the U.S. In this capacity, the MRC requires accredited services to be renewed annually to provide the industry with ongoing confidence in the data that underpins billions of dollars in advertising transactions every year.

Everyone wants data they can be confident in—regardless of industry. Data is becoming the lifeblood of businesses around the globe. By 2025, experts forecast that the world will be rife with about 175 zettabytes of data. For context, it would take you 1.8 billion years to download that much data with an average internet connection. 

Now, imagine a world without accreditation to help businesses and organizations make sense of that data or govern how it gets used, especially with privacy now a priority. Innovation happens when we work together, and this moment is a reminder of our decades-long support of this industry, as well as our commitment for decades to come.

This article originally appeared on MediaPost.

Notes

1. Nielsen Ad Intel; figure represents total ad spending in 2022 across U.S. cable, network, Spanish language cable, Spanish language network, spot TV and syndicated TV.
2. Nielsen NPOWER, Nielsen RADAR, Nielsen Total Media Fusion, Q4 2022
3. Gracenote Global Video Data, January 2023

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Seasonality plays a key role in TV viewing, and so do high-profile sporting events. March was no exception in both cases, as total TV usage declined, but the onset of NCAA basketball playoffs provided a seasonal bump to cable viewing. In fact, the arrival of March Madness gave cable its biggest boost since last year’s tournament—and its first uptick since August 2022. Cable was also the lone gainer in the month, with viewing up 0.6%.

The appeal of the tournament among sports fans highlights the impact that high-demand content has on viewership, regardless of platform or channel. Outside of March Madness, TV viewing trends in the month were in line with seasonal trends, with total usage down 2% from February 2023.

The 95th Oscars fueled a 153% increase in the award/ceremonies category on broadcast, but it, along with a 2.7% increase in drama viewing, wasn’t enough to offset declines in news (-4.4%) and sitcom (-8.1%) viewing. Outside of sports, which accounted for 9.5% of cable usage in March, viewing trends on cable were similar, with feature film and news viewing down 5.1% and 6.7%, respectively. On a year-over-year basis, cable viewing was down 13.7% (5.9 share points).

While streaming lost only 0.2 share points in March, the dip represents streaming’s first loss of share since August 2022, when it dropped 0.1 point at the onset of NCAA and NFL football. Since then, it has grown its share four times and remained flat twice. Yet while streaming usage was down 2.6% since February, the category is still up by more than a third on a year-over-year basis (almost 8 share points).

Across platforms, Pluto TV was the biggest gainer, as a 4.6% increase in usage pushed its share back up to 0.8%. Peacock viewing increased 3.1% to set a high water mark of 1.1% in total TV usage. Other notable streaming highlights include:

• Viewers watched more than 4.7 billion minutes of Outer Banks on Netflix.
• The new season of The Mandalorian on Disney+, with new episodes released weekly, attracted more than 3.6 billion viewing minutes, making it the second-most streamed program in March.
• You generated almost 3.6 billion viewing minutes on Netflix.
• YouTube, excluding YouTube TV, remained the most-used platform, claiming 7.8% of total TV usage.

March data trends with Brian Fuhrer

Methodology and frequently asked questions

The Gauge provides a monthly macroanalysis of audience viewing behaviors across key television delivery platforms, including broadcast, streaming, cable and other sources. It also includes a breakdown of the major, individual streaming distributors. The chart itself represents monthly total television usage, broken out into share of viewing by category and by individual streaming distributors.

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