Key Points
- NFL games fueled double-digit September viewership gains across all major broadcast networks, led by Fox with a 59% increase.
- Disney captured the largest share of total TV time at 10.7%, boosted by a 65% lift in ESPN viewership.
- YouTube remained the top media distributor overall, though Nielsen noted a slight audience dip tied to younger viewers returning to school.
The return of National Football League (NFL) games has driven a significant increase in viewership to media stakeholders with live TV rights to those events, according to a new report released by Nielsen on Tuesday.
The report, part of Nielsen’s monthly “Media Distributor Gauge” releases, said the largest four broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC — saw double-digit viewership gains during September thanks primarily to the return of professional football.
Fox’s broadcast stations and affiliates saw the largest viewership gains, with a 59 percent bump in audience in September when compared to off-season viewership in August. Fox shares Sunday afternoon football games with CBS, but also benefitted from college football and Major League Baseball (MLB) during key parts of the month.
NBC broadcast stations and affiliates saw their audience increase by 37 percent, driven primarily by the return of “Sunday Night Football,” while CBS had the third-largest viewership increase at 29 percent. ABC, which simulcasts some professional and college football from ESPN, had the smallest audience increase, but viewership still rose a respectable 24 percent compared to August.
Among broadcast network owners, the Walt Disney Company (ABC) captured the largest share of audience TV time in September with 10.7 percent, primarily driven by higher viewership at ESPN’s multiplex network, which saw a 65 percent lift in viewership, Nielsen said. NBC Universal was not too far behind with 8.6 percent of time spent with TV, while Fox and Paramount were close in third and fourth place with 7.9 percent and 7.7 percent of TV time respectively.
Share of TV time attributed to the media companies also included content streamed from their direct-to-consumer services like Disney Plus, Hulu Tubi, Fox One, Paramount Plus, Pluto TV and Peacock. Paramount Plus and Peacock offer live access to football games and other sports programming, while Disney Plus and Hulu are more stingy with the amount of live sports offered through their apps. Tubi rarely offers live sports from Fox.
Unsurprisingly, YouTube remained at the top of Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge in September, though the measurement firm was light on details about what people watched during the month. In an earlier report, Nielsen said YouTube’s audience dipped slightly in part because younger streamers returned to school.
