Unmeasured: Nielsen Crowns YouTube the Top TV Streamer. YouTube TV Counts as Cable.
Nielsen says YouTube is the most-watched thing on American television, a record 14.2% of all TV time in July. That count leaves out YouTube TV, whose hours Nielsen has credited to broadcast and cable since February 2023, when internet-delivered linear viewing was already 5.8% of all TV.
Read the full investigation on ADOTAT →Key findings
- Since February 2023, Nielsen's Gauge counts live channels on virtual pay-TV apps as broadcast and cable; its YouTube line is "YouTube Main" only.
- Comscore credits an NBC spot watched on YouTube TV to NBC.
- In November 2022, linear channels streamed through virtual and cable apps were 5.8% of all TV, roughly a tenth of linear viewing.
- On a YouTube TV hour, iSpot counts network ads as linear and the distributor's two inserted minutes as CTV.
- By Unmeasured's arithmetic, about one ad minute in seven or eight on a YouTube TV hour counts as streaming.
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