Nielsen published its monthly Gauge report on the share of television viewing for February, postponed until mid-April amid tension between broadcasters and online video platforms on viewing measurement methodology. When it was eventually published, The Gauge showed that streaming reached 48% of viewing, its highest so far. That was despite the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, which did well for NBC.
Traditional television made up 41.7% of viewing, down from 42.7% the previous month.
In measuring media distributors, Nielsen adds together NBCUniversal and Versant, a spin-off company, giving them a combined 13.1% of total television usage. That was boosted by the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, which also drove online viewing on Peacock.
The Nielsen announcement said: “NBCU-Versant commanded the February TV landscape and captured the top spot among media companies”.
There was quite a bit of preening the Peacock, and not a lot of talk about YouTube or Netflix.
Without the addition of Versant, NBCUniversal would have had 10%, putting it behind YouTube at 12.7%.
YouTube led the previous month with 12.5%. NBCUniversal and Versant ranked fourth, behind Netflix, with 8.5%.
The publication of The Gauge report was delayed after some online platforms reportedly expressed concern that it would show a significant decline in their audience share after a planned change in methodology.
Nielsen delayed the report and postponed the introduction of the new methodology, prompting complaints from broadcasters.
The Nielsen numbers also came with notices that these figures do not reflect its television ratings that inform advertising sales, saying that it is working on updates to reflect these for the next television season.
While the numbers are presented to one decimal place and industry observers get very excited about small shifts, metrics like The Gauge are at best indicative.
What they have served to show in recent years is the slow and steady growth of online video in the United States.
That said, traditional television still represents over 40% of viewing. Whether or not YouTube is television, it is only 12.7% of television viewing, if these numbers are to be believed at all.