Key Points
- Americans watched more than 100 billion minutes of TV in November, driven by Thanksgiving NFL games and strong broadcast viewership.
- Broadcast TV captured 23.2 percent of viewing time, with record audiences for NFL games on CBS, Fox and NBC.
- Netflix rose to 8.3 percent of TV time as viewers streamed 11.8 billion minutes of “Stranger Things.”
Americans watched more than 100 billion minutes of television during the November measurement period, with a significant amount of interest in Thanksgiving Day football games and the season debut of Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” according to the latest monthly report from Nielsen.
On Tuesday, the intelligence firm released its monthly “The Gauge” report, which showed a one point increase in time spent with streaming platforms and higher interest in broadcast TV.
Thanksgiving Day saw the most TV usage as measured by Nielsen, with more than 103 billion minutes logged across broadcast channels, cable networks and streaming TV services, the firm said. Viewership to broadcast networks increased 7 percent, with the segment capturing 23.2 percent of all time spent with TV, fueled by record-setting football games aired on CBS, Fox and NBC.
CBS won the holiday, with more than 57.2 million viewers watching the network’s match-up between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys — the second National Football League (NFL) game aired that day. That number surpassed the 42.1 million viewers who watched the New York Giants take on the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving in 2022, Nielsen said earlier this month.
On Fox, a game between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions averaged 47.7 million viewers, while the evening game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals drew 28.4 million viewers to NBC.
Fox and NBC saw higher audiences this year compared to last year. The average audience across all three games was 44.7 million viewers, Nielsen said.
What’s good for the networks was also good for their streaming services, with Peacock seeing higher usage thanks to its simulcast of the Thanksgiving NFL game, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Sunday Night Football. Peacock saw a 22 percent increase in use compared to the prior month, and accounted for nearly 2 percent of all time spent with TV in November, a record when excluding Olympics viewership, Nielsen said.
Paramount Plus, which offers live sports from CBS, saw an 18 percent increase in usage compared to the October measurement period. Nielsen no longer offers specific information about Paramount Plus’ TV share, instead rolling the app into a single “Paramount streaming” category, which captured 2.3 percent of TV time when taking into account usage of Pluto TV, BET Plus and other Paramount-owned services.
All told, broadcast TV captured 23.2 percent of time spent with TV — slightly higher than the 22.9 percent logged during October.
Over on cable, sports viewing fell 42 percent when compared to October. Nielsen attributed the dip to lower interest in cable sports relative to when Fox and TNT Sports offered the Major League Baseball playoffs and World Series games.
ESPN’s telecasts of Monday Night Football experienced strong viewership during the November measurement period, but not enough to offset the loss of baseball on other networks. Cable ended the November measurement period with 20.5 percent of time spent with TV, nearly 2 points lower than October.
Combined, traditional linear TV networks accounted for 43.7 percent of time spent with TV, which still won the month compared to streaming services, which had a 33.8 percent share of TV time with YouTube factored out.
Netflix was one of the standout platforms of the month, with strong interest in the fifth season debut of Stranger Things on its platform toward the end of the measurement period. Streamers watched 11.8 billion minutes of the show during November, Nielsen said, helping Netflix rise to 8.3 percent of all time spent with TV.
The Roku Channel also saw higher interest during the month, ending the period with nearly 3 percent of all time spent with TV, though Nielsen didn’t offer any insight into what streamers were watching on that platform. Among free streaming services, The Roku Channel is typically at the top of the list, with Fox-owned Tubi not too far behind.
YouTube accounted for 13.9 percent of time spent with TV in November, unchanged from the prior month. Nielsen does not offer specific insight into what streamers watch on that platform. Viewership to YouTube TV is counted in the broadcast and cable segment of its report.
