NIELSEN THE GAUGE
According to Nielsen’s latest The Gauge, Broadcast viewing increased 2.1% over December (though down 6% from January 2022. Streaming holds it’s “industry-leading dominant share” of 38.1%; up 1.2% from December (and up 31.8% over January 2022). “YouTube maintained its leading position as the top individual streaming platform with a 8.6% share, followed by Netflix with 7.5%; Hulu, 3.5%; Amazon Prime Video, 2.9%; Disney+ 1.7%; Peacock, 1.0% and Pluto TV with 0.8%.” Disney+ saw a 10% drop after December’s holiday-film viewing and Cable TV remained flat, with a 30.4% share. (MediaPost: 2/16/23)
LOCAL NEWS AD REACH BEATS NETFLIX’S
With buzz surrounding the Netflix announcement that it’s getting in the ad business, the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) pushed back on behalf of linear broadcast TV. While Netflix claimed that its Basic with Ads tier now has about 600,000 monthly active users, the TVB pointed out that this figure refers to subscribers not viewers. As a comparison, the TVB explained that the New York market alone, reached over 1.6 million adults across local broadcast TV newscasts on a typical evening in November (between 5:00pm and 6:30pm); “nearly triple the number of Netflix’s reported universe for its ad-supported tier.” (NextTV: 2/13/23)
ONLINE MEDIA SPENDING OUTLOOK
US online media spend totaled $277.3 billion in 2022; up 13.5% from 2021 according to data from Winterberry Group. A significant portion of the increase came from CTV which was “the fastest growth in spending last year of all the online media analyzed” and it’s predicted that CTV spend will rise 27.2% to $26.9 billion in 2023. Other growth channels for this year include Influencer (+17.5%), Digital Video (+14.3%), and Digital Out-of-Home (10.0%). (MarketingCharts: 2/15/23)
HOT TAKES ON AD-SUPPORTED TV
TV REV turns to its Thought Leaders Circle for insights on ad-supported TV trends. Ramsey McGrory, Chief Development Officer at Mediaocean “notes that it is not an either/or dynamic, that the popularity of ad-free TV does not mean that ad supported TV is going to be unpopular, and that the digital elements of CTV make for a better ad experience overall.” Christina Oh, VP, Global Head of Marketing at Samsung Ads, points out that “ad-supported viewing is due to surpass ad-free this year even as Disney and Netflix get on the ad-supported train, and that viewers actually really like what the FASTs have to offer.” Other Though Leaders weighing in come from IRIS.TV, Magnite, LG Ad Solutions, Innovid, Cadent, and Paket Media. (TVREV: 2/15/23)
HONORING BLACK HISTORY MONTH Local TV stations throughout the country honor Black History Month with special programming, interviews and profiles, ways that residents can attend events and learn in their communities. Through their Black History is American History segment, CBS New York’s daily features include the new Black Heritage stamp honoring author Ernest J. Gaines, Virginia Johnson’s legacy as artistic director of the Dance Theater of Harlem, the “incredible life of New York Giants great Emlen Lewis Tunnell, and more. (CBS News: 2/16/23
