More than most, I know how exceptionally hard it is to get people to pay attention when new content is dropped. I see my metrics, or what pass for them, and for the most part they’re relatively stagnant.
So I give all due props and respect to my onetime vendor Brian Fuhrer, one of the few survivors of several Nielsen regimes he has served under, for continuing to garner as much attention from so many different outlets every month when his signature work The Gauge sends out its monthly recap on how America–or, at least the portion with screens Nielsen is capable of measuring–have spent their valuable time. Upon yesterday morning’s release, literally dozens of outlets ran some iteration of the narrative he created. THE WRAP’s Lucas Manfredi was among the more broad-reaching and succinct:
Streaming continued to smash records in June, with the category accounting for 40.3% of total TV usage during the month, according to Nielsen’s latest Gauge report.
The milestone marks a 6% month-over-month increase in viewership and tops May’s 38.8% share, making it streaming’s best month ever (the previous single category record was 40.1%, set by cable in June 2021).
The increase was driven by double-digit growth across four platforms: Disney+ (+14.8%), Tubi (+14.7%), Netflix (+11.8%) and Max (+11.0%), all with 20% or more attributable to younger viewers ages 2 to 17…Overall, the streaming category saw a 16% increase in viewing from kids 2 to 11.
Streaming viewership increased 6% compared with May and the category added 1.5 share points to finish June at a record-setting 40.3% of TV. As streaming makes up a larger share of younger viewers’ television time, the category received a disproportionate bump from the 2-17 age demographic, including a 16% increase in viewing from kids 2-11.
If you visit Nielsen’s website, you can even see Fuhrer giddily dropping these dimes in a decently produced video that may or may not have been AI-assisted. But for all I can tell, that’s indeed the real Fuhrer playing the role of breaking news reporter.
A handful of other outlets employ writers astute enough to expand upon Fuhrer’s talking points. Among them was ENGADGET’s Anna Washenko:
YouTube was the favorite streaming platform with 9.9 percent of the monthly usage, followed by Netflix at 8.4 percent…There’s a notable drop after those two services, with Amazon’s Prime Video securing 3.1 percent, and companion platforms Hulu and Disney+ coming in with 3 percent and 2 percent shares, respectively. In case those streaming figures seem low, it’s important to note that Nielsen tracks viewing only on television screens. That means the vast number of hours Americans spend streaming shows on their phones and tablets isn’t part of this accounting.
And the A.V. Club’s Mary Kate Carr also took note of the implications of what kind of content may have contributed to some of Netflix’s stellar results:
Interestingly, in the latter case, those viewership stats account for both Netflix and Paramount+, but licensing to Netflix undeniably gave Your Honor a serious boost. The inference to be made here is that consumers obviously don’t care about individual brands and studios as much as they care about a centralized viewing experience. Netflix came first, so most people have Netflix, so all the “old” series like Your Honor will be brand-new to cable cutters who never caught the show when it aired on Showtime in 2020 and new to the people who are not about to pay for another streaming service (in this case, Paramount+).
But for the most part, most other outlets echo the simplistic regurgitation such as Manfredi’s, simply throwing the data dump into the water like chum for hungry fish without concern for whether or not it’s being interpreted accurately. Putting out sweeping statements such as kids watching more TV and only the thinnest reference to YOUR HONOR having been available for more than three years on various Paramount-owned outlets with nothing even close to the sort of numbers it achieved are gratuitous and arguably misleading. It’s not like those 2-17s were watching that, and certainly not BRIDGERTON. What were they watching, Brian? We don’t even need specifics, just perhaps a genre or two.
And the chart’s little caveat: Note: The streaming category does not include “linear streaming” (the aggregation of vMVPD/MVPD apps). Do reporters, let alone their readers, know what that means? It means that any viewing of a linear entity via a streaming PIPE doesn’t count, such as if I watch ABBOTT ELEMENTARY on ABC via a Hulu live channel. It also means if I happen to watch that exact episode the next night on Hulu itself, it DOES count for streaming. Yet another “acquired” piece of content purpotedly driving streaming’s domination yet also something that has been helping to keep broadcast television breathing.
An astute reader like you might already have known that. A more distracted one, particularly someone who might be, say, a stockholder or investor in a media entity, might not.
And as far as the actual employees of these entities that Fuhrer’s so eager to credit? At best, they are using Nielsen data by default to appease their growing stake of advertisers either too complacent or cash-strapped to consider more inclusive and/or timely alternatives. They’ve got far more robust and actionable data at their disposal, as well as from other third party competitors who may not have Nielsen’s brand name and/or production values. And Brian, let me tell you, when Ted Sarandos did a video presentation of HIS data, he blew your performance away.
And as to the value this data has brought to the businesses, well, the very same day that many trade reporters were running with the Fuhrer version of Nielsen’s spin, which included that lovely little sales point about Max’s significant rise on the heels of HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, some such as VARIETY’s Jennifer Maas were also reporting this news:
A new round of layoffs have hit Warner Bros. Discovery, though the number of employees affected in this wave is far less in comparison to the sweeping cuts made across the David Zaslav-led company last year.
Sources tell Variety that under 1,000 employees have been laid off across a few sectors in a new cost-cutting move at WBD, including finance, business affairs, production and at streamer Max. The insider says the vast majority of the eliminations were in the finance division, with less than 10 Max staffers affected in total.
I’ll defer to the remaining MAX employees as to whether or not the good news from Nielsen may have spared them for now. I do know they haven’t exactly been putting out feelers to staff up.
What I also know, Brian, is that five years ago I was sitting in a breakout workshop at the Media Insights and Engagement Conference with several of your colleagues, competitors and clients discussing what should be priorities for the coming decade. Perhaps nervous for my own longevity, I championed the concept of more transparency and closer collaborations, including helping to educate the public at large and our superiors on what they were saying and what were the real world implications in the same aggressive manner that several start-ups were pursuing. Included in that Algonquin roundtable was the CEO of what was and is one of Nielsen’s staunchest competitors. That person heartily agreed and it was our group’s recommended contribution to the conference as a whole at this person’s insistence. Last month, that person joined me and several others in our group, and dozens of those who were in attendance at that conference, in the “open for work” category.
More than ever, if a company like Nielsen is in a position to get this much clickbait, it is incumbent upon them to provide more than simply just this qualified and simplistic lens. A couple of extra data cuts, including this data within the 2-17 demo and/or a streaming originals bucket, wouldn’t take your machines all that long to produce. I know those who sell and buy ad time have clamored for some sort of break regarding AVOD and FAST channels. They seem invested enough, and from what I understand are under a great deal of pressure from their clients, to care a lot more about something you might produce. Hey, look at how your production entity clients have responded to your cut of this data by provider, the one that Disney essentially used as their anthem at their spring upfront.
I make these pleas not merely in a vacuum or to be niggly, but on behalf of those of us who sat at that MIE table and unfortunately were spot on on the doom and gloom prediction which at the time I was perhaps more down a rabbit hole into. I dare say my fears have been proven more prescient than any of us would have wanted. So when I see an incomplete and/or tone-deaf narrative yes, I freely admit it triggers me. Particularly when so many of us are available for a modest consulting fee to actually help craft a better one.
I certainly hope you might for a change choose not to be as dismissive the last time I brought these points up to you, Brian. Ya never know. At this rate this industry seems who knows whose job might be at stake yet? 
Until next time…