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January TV Viewing Shows Significant Increase, Driven by Sports and Key Events
According to the latest Gauge report from Nielsen, total television viewing experienced a 5% increase month-over-month in January. This rise is attributed to the substantial viewership generated by NFL and NCAA football games, along with scripted dramas and news programs.
The NFL’s AFC Championship game on January 26, aired on CBS, led the month’s rankings with an impressive audience of 57.4 million viewers. It was closely followed by the NFC Championship game on the same day broadcast live on Fox, which attracted 44.2 million viewers.
Additionally, the coverage of the college football playoffs on ESPN, along with various bowl games, contributed to a remarkable 42% surge in cable sports viewership during January. Notably, the seven College Football Playoff (CFP) games that aired in January accounted for the top seven cable telecasts for the month, culminating in 22.1 million viewers for the National Championship Game on January 20.
Other significant sports broadcasts included Prime Video’s exclusive streaming of the NFL wild card playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens on January 11. This event was pivotal in achieving the second-highest streaming day ever recorded, with over 47 billion total minutes viewed, falling just short of the 51.2 billion minutes logged on Christmas Day 2024.
Apart from sports, entertainment programming also played a crucial role in bolstering viewership. ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” garnered 17.9 million viewers, while the Golden Globes broadcast on CBS attracted 9.7 million viewers. CBS’s post-AFC Championship premiere of “Watson” brought in 10.8 million viewers. In addition, drama series viewership saw a 15% uptick, and news programming increased by 18%, contributing to a 5.1% rise in broadcast viewing, which reached a total share of 22.5%.
Cable viewing also experienced a significant boost, climbing 7% to a total share of 24.4%. This increase was largely fueled by the aforementioned 42% rise in sports viewership, alongside a 26% growth in news viewing, particularly driven by coverage of Inauguration Day by Fox News Channel.
While traditional television viewing saw significant growth, streaming services maintained their dominance, accounting for the highest share of television viewing at 42.6%, representing a 3% increase from the previous month and a striking 21% rise year-over-year. YouTube led the streaming sector with a 10.8% share, followed by Netflix, which recorded an 8.6% share — a new platform milestone largely propelled by the success of “Squid Game,” which amassed 9 billion viewing minutes as January’s top streaming title.
Disney’s combined streaming services, including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, ranked third with a total viewing share of 4.7%. Among its offerings, “Bluey” stood out with 4.7 billion viewing minutes, making it the second-most streamed program for the month. Other notable platforms included Prime Video with a 3.7% share, Roku with an impressive 2.1% share due to a 9% increase, Tubi with 1.7%, and both Peacock and Paramount+ with shares of 1.4% each. Max held a 1.3% share alongside Pluto TV at 0.9%. Paramount+’s original series “Landman” rounded out January’s top streaming titles with 4.4 billion viewing minutes.
Source
www.thewrap.com