'Ad Voice' Data Still Tops for Broadcast, Cable: Comscore

• by Wayne Friedman , 3 hours ago

Although streaming platforms command a dominating share of overall viewing time, TV share of advertising time still sits with broadcast and cable network platforms, according to Comscore.

In the second quarter of 2023, 87% of all ad time on TV was viewed on cable or broadcast -- with just 13.1% of TV advertising time going to streaming platforms.

Breaking this down, 43.7% went to broadcast and 43.3% was for cable TV networks.

In the first half of 2024, CBS, ABC, and NBC command the largest individual network/platform share of “ad voice” with 10.2%, 9.8%, and 9.4% shares, respectively.

Well behind these top broadcasters are Fox Television Network (5.3%), YouTube (4.6%), Fox News Channel (4.6%) and Hulu (4.6%). 

By way of comparison, premium streaming viewing leader Netflix only has a 0.524% share. Amazon’s Prime Video is at a similar 0.548% share.

Both these operations’ efforts in the ad-supported arena are relatively new. Netflix started up two years ago, while Prime Video launched in January of this year.

Hulu commands the top ad-voice position among all streamers. Comscore notes that the Disney-owned streamer has had a much longer history in the premium streaming business than nearly all other competitors.

After the top seven platforms are MSNBC at 2.2%, followed by ESPN with 2.0%, CNN at 1.8%, The CW at 1.7% and ION with 1.5%.

Looking at other streaming businesses, after YouTube and Hulu are Tubi (1.4%), Pluto TV (0.745%), and Peacock (0.629%).

A look at total TV/streaming viewing -- both ad-free and ad-supported -- shows streaming platforms command a 41% share of total day persons age 2-plus viewing in August, according to Nielsen, compared to cable at 26.3% and broadcast at 22%.

The report, called The Score, comes from data of 29 million U.S. households -- which includes using smart TV ACR data (Automatic Content Recognition) from Inscape and Samba TV. 

Comscore notes that broadcast includes data from both pay TV and broadcast stations. Streaming data does not include traditionally distributed TV platforms.