More Studies Show Streaming Gains
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ is good medicine for streaming and broadcast Photo courtesy of ABC)
To folks still recovering from the upfronts last week, Nielsen has a fresh report that shows that television viewers continue to move towards streaming.
In April, Nielsen said, streaming’s share of television usage rose to 44.3% from 43.8% in March. This year, streaming’s share has risen every month since February.
Streaming usage is up 15% from last April, when streaming’s share was 38.4%. At the same time, broadcast viewing has dropped 7% and cable has plummeted 16%. Broadcast and cable now account for a 45.3% share combined.
That explains why Amazon, Netflix and YouTube all make upfront presentations.
(Note: Streaming’s share of ad-supported TV usage remains smaller, with many viewers of Netflix, Disney Plus and Max (soon again to become again HBO Max again) are subscribed to the commercial-free versions of those services. Nielsen reported on May 1 that streaming had a 42.4% share of ad-supported viewing in Q1. Its next report will cover Q2.)
The big streaming gains in April included record shares for YouTube, the top streamer on TV screens, and The Roku Channel. YouTube’s share rose to 12.4% of total TV usage, up from 12% last month. The Roku Channel’s share rose 0.2% to 2.4%. Compared to a year ago, viewing of The Roku Channel is up 67%.
The top streaming title in April was Grey’s Anatomy. Wait a second: Grey’s has been on ABC, a broadcast network, for decades. But Nielsen notes that Grey’s racked up 3.9 million viewing minutes across Disney-owned Hulu and Netflix. Episodes from the just-ended 21st season of Grey’s on Hulu accounted for 10% of the show’s total streaming, illustrating how long-running shows with big libraries attract viewers to streaming.
But all is not lost for broadcast and cable. Their shares were also in up April, while Nielsen’s “Other” category (video games and such) dropped sharply to 10.3% from 11.7% in March.
Time spent watching broadcast in April rose to 20.8% of total TV from 20.5% in March, helped by dramas and news. Sports events drew the the largest individual audiences, with the championship game capping the March Madness of men’s college basketball pulling in 18.3 million viewers, and the final round of an Masters golf tournament ending in a sudden-death hole on CBS attracting 13 million viewers, up 36% from a year ago.
Cable’s share rose to 24.5% from 24%. Sports was a big factor with ESPN’s coverage of Round 1 of the NFL Draft being the most-watched show on cable with 6.4 million viewers. The first round of the NBA playoffs also contributed to cable sports gains with ESPN and TNT hosting five games each and averaging 3.1 and 2.8 million viewers, respectively.
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The shift to streaming is also reflected in a new survey from LG Ad Solutions, which found that 59% of Americans plan to stream more at home and cut back on out-of-home entertainment in the face of economic uncertainty.
The survey found that 70% said they expected to stream more live events, rather than attending in person, and that 66% plan to use more free ad-supported streaming platforms.
“As consumers brace for potential economic headwinds, many are already staying in and streaming more,” said Tony Marlow, Chief Marketing Officer at LG Ad Solutions. “CTV viewership continues to accelerate, creating a prime opportunity for brands to invest in advertising that connects with highly engaged audiences on the biggest screen in the home.”
While consumers say they plan to cut back on streaming subscriptions, about 70% of them say they like getting special offers and vouchers via connected TV and steaming.
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Amazon Publisher Services and Magnite said they have expanded their relationship. The new arrangement makes it easier for publishers to access high-quality and incremental demand from Magnite on Amazon devices, and gives Magnite incremental access to streaming TV inventory via APS on Fire TV devices.
“We’re pleased to broaden our work with Amazon Ads to make more streaming content on Fire TV devices available to buyers through Magnite,” said Sean Buckley, President, Revenue, at Magnite. “By developing the custom integration, we’re able to more comprehensively connect advertisers to premium streaming inventory across Fire TV devices.”
“Expanding our work with Magnite was the natural evolution in our dedication to bring incremental demand to publishers through interoperable solutions,” said Scott Siegler, Director of Amazon Publisher Services. “Our shared goal is to maximize streaming TV advertising effectiveness that ultimately improves consumers’ ad experiences.”
The companies have been working together for a while. Magnite was a launch partner for Amazon Ads’ Transparent Ad Marketplace in 2016 and Magnite was among the first to sign up for Amazon’s Certified Supply Exchange Program last year.
“As a customer and collaborator of both APS and Magnite, we have long wanted to find a way to unify our demand stack with both of these providers. This new opportunity allows us to centralize reporting and garner access to unique, direct demand," said Rose McGovern, Head of Programmatic &; Digital Ad Sales at DirecTV Advertising.
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Infolinks and Infillion said they are working together to give Infilion’s brand and agency clients access to Infolinks’ proprietary placements and inventory across more than 25,000 premium direct publishers.
“Direct integrations like this mark a major shift in how buyers engage with premium proprietary placements, quality and performing inventory,” said Robert Regular, CEO at Infolinks Media. “Infolinks is as direct and proprietary as it gets. We are direct to the publisher, creating quality proprietary placement inventory unlike any other. This integration with Infillion ensures advertisers can access that value with complete transparency and zero intermediaries.”
"At Infillion, we're focused on building a smarter, more accountable ad ecosystem – one that prioritizes direct access and premium placements to scale our proprietary video formats," added Gus Quinzani, VP of Ecosystem Partnerships at Infillion, which owns TrueX, MediaMath, Gimbal, inStadium and Analytiks.ai. "Infolinks is a dynamic partner capable of implementing our formats seamlessly. Their direct supply model aligns with our commitment to quality and control, and we're excited to offer curated inventory at scale through this direct integration."