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According to Nielsen’s monthly Gauge reports, Super Bowl Sunday stands out as the second most-watched television day ever, amassing over 110 billion viewing minutes, as announced on Tuesday.
A significant contributor to this achievement was the 127.7 million viewers who tuned in to watch the game on Fox, alongside the simulcast available on the ad-supported streaming service Tubi, which represented a third of the total streaming consumption.
Analysis of Tubi’s audience revealed that viewers of the platform during the Super Bowl were 38% more likely to belong to the 18 to 34 age demographic compared to the overall game viewership, with a slight tilt towards a female audience. Notably, Tubi’s usage surged by 17% in February compared to January, culminating in a 2% share of total TV watch-time, the highest since July 2024.
In terms of overall viewing, TV consumption on February 9 was only 500 million minutes shy of the all-time record set during Super Bowl Sunday in 2024.
While Tubi made impressive gains, YouTube maintained its dominance with the largest share of TV viewing for the month, capturing 11.6%, up 2.5% from the previous month. YouTube accounted for nearly 27% of all streaming time in February.
Following YouTube were Netflix with an 8.2% share, Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ collectively occupying 4.8%, Prime Video at 3.5%, and the Roku Channel at 2.1%. Just behind Tubi was Peacock with a 1.5% share, followed by Paramount+ with 1.3%, Max with 1.2%, and Pluto TV, which secured 1%.
The streaming sector overall experienced a 0.9 share point increase month-over-month, totaling a record share of 43.5%. In contrast, broadcast and cable viewing combined accounted for 44.4%, with broadcast at 21.2% and cable at 23.2% in February.
Among streaming platforms, Netflix’s “The Night Agent” emerged as the top program for the month, garnering 6 billion viewing minutes, while Disney+’s “Bluey” followed with 4.2 billion minutes.
In the cable viewing landscape, the inaugural NHL 4 Nations championship game achieved the highest viewership for the month with 9.3 million viewers on ESPN. Moreover, the FOX News Channel dominated the cable telecast rankings, capturing the next thirteen top slots, with cable news witnessing an 8% increase over January and accounting for 27% of total cable viewing in February.
Regarding broadcast television, the Super Bowl and its accompanying segments on Fox were succeeded by NBC’s Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special, which attracted 16.5 million viewers, and The Grammys on CBS, which garnered 16.2 million viewers. Broadcast dramas, which represented the largest segment of broadcast viewing in February (with 27%), saw a 15% rise from the previous month, led by CBS’ “Tracker” with 10.6 million viewers and “Matlock” with 9.4 million viewers.
Despite the impressive ratings for the Super Bowl and other notable broadcasts, the overall viewership for broadcast television declined by 10%, comprising 21.2% of total television consumption, while cable viewing fell 9%, making up 23.2%. Notably, viewership for sports events witnessed a substantial decrease, dropping 54% on broadcast and 42% on cable compared to January.
Source
www.thewrap.com