Ad-supported television made up 72% of all TV viewing in the first quarter of 2025, according to Nielsen’s newly announced Ad-Supported Gauge.
Thursday marked the launch of the audience measurement provider’s new report, which will serve as an extension of its existing Gauge insights.
According to the inaugural report, streaming TV makes up just over 42% of all ad-supported TV, while broadcast and cable make up under 29%.
When compared against Nielsen’s current Gauge insights, this means that traditional TV makes up 56% of ad-supported viewing even though it only represents 44% of overall viewership.
Moving forward, the Ad-Supported Gauge will be released on a quarterly basis – and with a more granular level of detail, Brian Fuhrer, SVP of product strategy and thought leadership, told press at a breakfast briefing on launch day.
“There’s a lot of anxiety and anticipation about this, and we want to make sure we’re working really closely with our clients as we roll this out,” said Fuhrer.
Tracking ad impact
This new ad-supported breakdown is something advertisers and agencies have long encouraged Nielsen to pursue, said Fuhrer, so that they can better invest their ad spend where those ads will have more of an impact.
But developing the technology and reporting capabilities took a lot of work over the past nine months, specifically with regard to streaming.
Ideally, Nielsen will eventually be able to break down ad-supported versus non-ad-supported viewership on a platform-by-platform basis. But not yet, mostly out of respect for Nielsen’s clients – and certainly not right before TV upfronts season, Chief Communications and Brand Marketing Officer for Nielsen Carole Robinson told AdExchanger.
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Tracking ad intelligence
At Thursday’s press briefing, Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao also shared that the company has added CTV insights to its Ad Intel solution, which tracks ad spend across various linear and digital TV channels.
Advertisers that use Nielsen Ad Intel will now be able to track CTV spend across 41 different streaming platforms representing 95% of the US market, with global expansion soon to come.
Rao also highlighted the momentum gain experienced by Nielsen ONE Ads, which was launched in early 2023 as a cross-screen platform for ad campaign measurement.
“People just associate us with good ol’ television ratings, and we’re proud of that. But we do many more things in the company,” Rao said.
