Nielsen’s Monthly Gauge Reveals Holiday Viewership Data
Nielsen has released its latest “Gauge” data update for Thanksgiving through to the end of December 2024, which has given us a broad overview of how Americans watch television. This includes linear and streaming services like Disney+ and Hulu.
The report has revealed that there was a 4% increase in overall time spent watching television across all platforms compared with November, with each holiday also accounting for two of the four days in the interval to exceed 100 billion TV viewing minutes. In total, 2024 included nine days with over 100 billion TV viewing minutes, compared with 13 in 2023.
The biggest reason for the boost in viewership was sports, including the NFL games on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Other popular shows released during this period included the second season of Netflix’s “Squid Games” and Mr Beast’s show on Amazon Prime. This continues to show why Disney is pivoting to sports programming, especially with the launch of ESPN on Disney+.
With the unique way that Hulu On Disney+ operates, Nielsen is now adding a note to its data stating that due to the ability of consumers to view Hulu via Disney+, some Hulu app usage may be inadvertently credited to Disney+. It’s also likely that this could also impact viewership of ESPN content.
This highlights why Disney’s single-app experience is so important for Disney+. It brings in more viewership of additional content from Hulu and ESPN, boosting overall usage. When combined, Hulu and Disney+ make up 4.6 percent of viewership, just ahead of Prime Video but below Netflix.
Over the holiday period, Disney released many new originals, including the new Star Wars series, “Skeleton Crew”, and the Marvel animated series, “What If?”. Plus, it also benefited from having two of the biggest box office hits of 2024 available to stream on Disney+, “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine”.
Roger’s Take: The monthly Gauge data from Nielsen is always a good indication of how the American audience is consuming its television. It also highlights how streaming has taken a huge chunk of the audience over the past few years, but linear, either by cable or broadcast, still makes up the largest proportion of viewership. This highlights why Hulu and Disney+ are benefiting from having next-day episodes of FOX and ABC shows.
What did you watch over the holidays? Let me know on social media!