Linear TV Ratings Surge as NFL, College Football Return to Airwaves in September
Linear TV Ratings Surge as NFL, College Football Return to Airwaves in September
Streaming ratings declined for the second straight month after record highs in July, but the ‘Suits’ phenomenon kept on producing big numbers for Netflix.
Streaming’s ratings seemed to be on a rocket ship to the moon in July when Nielsen recorded the highest ratings for video sourced from streaming platforms ever. Broadcast and cable sources slipped below 50% of total TV viewing in July for the first time in the history of Nielsen, but as The Streamable cautioned, streaming providers who celebrated those ratings successes in July would likely see a different story when the fall came around.
- Broadcast and cable accounted for 53% of total TV viewing in September.
- Within broadcast viewing, sports watching increased 360% during the month.
- ESPN carried all 11 of the top cable telecasts in the month; 10 were football-related.
Football Tackles Streaming
The fall is now here, and as predicted streaming has fallen below linear television in terms of total viewing time. The culprit for that change is easy to identify: NFL and NCAA football. According to Nielsen, 10 of the top 11-rated cable telecasts during the month were football-related, and among broadcast audiences viewing of sports programming jumped by an astounding 360%.
Sports programming could lead to dominant ratings for linear TV sources in the coming months, as well. The NHL season began on Oct. 10, and the NBA is set to tip off its regular season on Oct. 24. With the limited amount of new scripted series headed to streaming thanks to the now-ended Hollywood writers’ strike (though actors are still in search of a new deal), live sports could easily help broadcast and cable continue to ride high for the rest of the year.
Overall in September, streaming accounted for 37.5% of all TV watched. Broadcast and cable combined for a 52.8% share, while other sources accounted for 9.6% of TV viewing in the United States during the month.
Silver Linings for Streamers
The news wasn’t all bad for streaming services, particularly for the world’s largest streaming platform. Netflix saw big ratings from “Suits” once again in September; the show was streamed for more than 8 billion minutes on that platform and Peacock, which licensed the series to Netflix earlier this year.
Prime Video has also been the beneficiary of the increased attention to sports. This is the second season that Amazon’s streamer is the exclusive home of national broadcasts of “Thursday Night Football,” and the service got a 7.5% increase in viewership with the return of “TNF” games. “TNF” broadcasts now incorporate AI to help fully immerse fans in the viewing experience. Free streaming platforms Tubi and The Roku Channel both saw lifts in ratings in September as well, and both now sit firmly above the coveted 1% viewing time threshold.
As a general rule, fans can expect streaming ratings to continue to climb slowly in the coming years while broadcast and cable recede. But the fall season will always bring a cyclical bump for linear TV thanks to the return of college and pro football, and this year’s bump could be quite pronounced thanks to the lack of scripted shows due to arrive on streaming platforms in the next few months.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.