According to Nielsen's The Gauge report, November witnessed a remarkable nine-month high in TV viewing time in the US. This surge of 5 per cent compared to October marked the largest monthly viewing total since February. The impact on TV viewership during this November interval was primarily driven by sports, the presidential election, and live streaming, each influencing viewing categories in separate weeks.

Uncover the Factors Behind US TV Viewing Spikes in November

Sports and Broadcast Viewing

In November, broadcast viewing saw a significant 3 per cent increase, accounting for 23.7 per cent of total TV viewing time. The first week of the month was particularly dominant for the broadcast category, featuring Games 3, 4, and 5 of the MLB World Series on Fox, along with the regular slate of NFL and college football games. The combined viewing minutes of the final three World Series games exceeded 10 billion, and the Dodgers' victory in Game 5 attracted 18.2 million viewers, making it the sixth most watched broadcast telecast. This concentrated week of broadcast sporting events boosted the category's share to 24.9 per cent in the first week, and increased broadcast sports viewing by 34 per cent over October.

Presidential Election and Cable Viewing

The coverage of the presidential election in the second week of the month led to viewing increases, especially for cable. Although cable ended November with a 25 per cent share of viewing, its share during the election week jumped to 26.5 per cent. Much of this increase was attributed to cable news. Interestingly, cable news viewing only rose by 1 per cent monthly but climbed from 36 billion to 48 billion viewing minutes between weeks one and two (+32 per cent), resulting in a share boost.

Streaming Viewing Trends

Streaming viewership witnessed a substantial 7.6 per cent increase in November, reaching a record share of 41.6 per cent (+1.1 pt.). Some of this growth can be attributed to viewers seeking refuge from the unusual, election-driven news cycle covered by traditional TV networks. During the third week of the interval, the streaming category reached 42.6 per cent of TV viewing. Netflix also experienced peak viewership during this week, hitting 8.5 per cent of TV (compared to its overall monthly share of 7.7 per cent). This peak coincided with the live-streamed Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson boxing match and was fueled by viewing of its original series The Lincoln Lawyer, which had 3.9 billion viewing minutes and was the most watched streaming programme.

Streaming Service Highlights

Three streaming services achieved platform-best shares in November. The Roku Channel saw a 12 per cent increase to 1.9 per cent of TV. Prime Video had a 10 per cent rise to 3.7 per cent of TV. YouTube secured a new category record with 10.8 per cent of TV. Peacock, although falling short of its Olympics-driven platform record, still had the largest monthly increase among streamers at 1.5 per cent (+0.2 pt.). Peacock's significant increase was partly due to Despicable Me 4, which generated 1.5 billion viewing minutes and a 58 per cent increase in kids viewing on the platform.