The return of college and professional football saw broadcast TV get its highest watch-time share in months and even beat out cable for the month of September, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Although both cable and broadcast TV commanded a rounded 22.3% of the total amount of time viewers spent watching TV in September, the broadcast category had a higher unrounded percentage, Nielsen said.
It marks the first instance that people spent more time watching broadcast TV than cable in a given month since Nielsen began measuring total TV and streaming watch-time in 2021.
Between CBS, Fox and NBC, there were 15 NFL games that garnered more total watch-time in September than the most-watched broadcast TV program in August.
Month-over-month, the amount of time people spent watching broadcast TV increased by 20%, compared to a 3% total boost in overall TV consumption across Nielsen’s various categories.
The month-over-month jump in watch-time was the highest rate of growth Nielsen saw for a category since it began watch-time tracking in 2021.
September also marked the highest share of total watch-time broadcast TV received since January, when broadcast programming accounted for 22.5% of all time viewers spent watching TV.
Sports viewership accounted for 33% of the amount of time people spent watching broadcast TV in September, compared to just 11% of that time in August.
Cable also got a boost from the return of football.
The top five cable telecasts in September by amount of time spent watching were the NFL Network’s showing of the league’s game in Sao Paulo, Brazil, along with four of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” games.
Although sports viewership on cable increased by 11% in September, news programming still dominated within the category and accounted for more than 25% of all cable TV watch-time.
Streaming continues to lead among all categories by watch-time at 45.2% of all TV watch-time in September, though it is splintered among numerous services and platforms.
The streaming category’s share of overall watch-time declined for the second straight month from its most recent high point, a 47.3% watch-time share in July.
