TV Ratings Collide with Streaming: What You Need to Know

A recent decision by an industry regulator may shake up traditional TV ratings and the advertising industry that relies on them. The Media Rating Council gave the green light to Nielsen’s plan to include streaming data from platforms in its national TV ratings panel, potentially revealing higher viewership numbers for live events.

While the addition of streaming data is still in its early stages, with only Amazon currently using the new measurement for Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football telecasts, initial results are promising. Nielsen’s panel-only figures for Thursday Night Football show an average of 13.2 million viewers per game this season, but with the inclusion of streaming data, the audience numbers rise to 14.26 million, an increase of over a million viewers (about 8 percent).

This boost aligns with similar limited multiplatform data, where other outlets have occasionally reported combined TV and streaming numbers for live events. For example, NBC’s Sunday Night Football has an average of about 18.9 million TV viewers this season, with added streaming on Peacock and digital platforms showing even higher combined numbers. It will be interesting to see how this new approach to TV ratings shapes the future of audience measurement and advertising strategies.