Lengthy-tail TV scores knowledge has trickled out right here and there for a number of years, normally when a community (or often a streamer) wished to tout the success of particular person reveals. It wasn’t till the just-ended 2024-25 TV season, nevertheless, that Nielsen started releasing extra complete, comparative numbers for viewing over 5 weeks’ time.
Initially, a 35-day window appeared an extremely very long time to measure knowledge that’s meant to assist advertisers perceive how many individuals are seeing their commercials. Because the streaming period has totally taken maintain, although, it seems 5 weeks is just not an excessively very long time to measure viewing. Far more so than with delayed viewing on linear units (DVRs, primarily), streaming continues to herald substantial numbers of viewers lengthy after an episode first airs.
The 35-day figures for the 2024-25 season (or most of it, within the case of 35-day numbers) present that for sequence that originate on broadcast or cable networks, 5 weeks of streaming can develop a present’s viewers by 40 to 50 % — and in a number of outlier circumstances, virtually double it — from its linear whole over the identical timeframe. Practically as necessary, although, is the truth that streaming continues to be a large fount of recent viewers even after on-air and DVR viewing basically stops.
Nielsen started compiling its first set of reside plus 35-day scores within the 2016-17 season. Over the previous 9 years, linear 35-day knowledge has constantly confirmed continued viewing of leisure programming from weeks two to 5 — however at a a lot slower tempo than within the first week. That continues to be the case: In 2024-25, community sequence (excluding reside sports activities and information applications) drew, on common, about 90 % of their linear viewing within the first week after an episode aired.
Nearly all of streaming additionally occurs within the first week — however, in additional proof that streaming has reoriented viewing habits, a superb quantity of a present’s five-week streaming whole occurs from day eight onward. The Hollywood Reporter obtained Nielsen knowledge for the highest 20 reveals in seven-day, cross-platform viewing; combining that with already accessible 35-day knowledge reveals simply how a lot these reveals acquire from streaming at every interval.
The 20 most watched reveals after seven days acquire a mean of 1.94 million viewers from streaming alone, vs. 2.27 million from linear delayed viewing. Within the subsequent 4 weeks, nevertheless, streaming continues at a a lot larger price, including a mean of 1.48 million viewers to only 679,000 by way of linear delayed viewing. Put one other method, linear viewing after the primary week averages 8.5 % of the 35-day whole for these 20 reveals, whereas streaming from days eight by 35 includes 43 % of the whole.
Probably the most streamed community present, by a reasonably large margin, of 2024-25 was ABC’s first-year breakout Excessive Potential. The procedural starring Kaitlin Olson drew 7.94 million viewers by way of streaming over 35 days, nearly half of its all-platform whole of 16.14 million. Matlock (5.5 million streaming viewers), The Rookie (4.69 million), Shifting Gears (4.51 million), 911 (4.17 million), Ghosts (4.16 million), and Will Trent (3.78 million) additionally acquired greater than a 3rd of their 35-totals from streaming. Broadcast’s most-watched sequence, Tracker, had the second-highest whole variety of streaming viewers at 5.53 million, slightly below 32 % of its five-week whole.
Additional proof that longer-tail streaming has an actual impact on viewership comes from two sequence that don’t make the highest 20 in seven-day viewing: After seven days, Abbott Elementary and Regulation & Order: SVU are available in behind FBI: Most Needed’s all-platform whole of seven.33 million viewers. By day 35, nevertheless, Abbott Elementary climbs to eight.78 million and SVU to eight.68 million, shifting each of them forward of Most Needed’s 8.43 million.
Restricted samples from previous seasons confirmed related patterns — although normally only for one or a handful of episodes and never throughout all broadcasters. However the knowledge has, eventually, largely caught as much as the best way folks watch TV within the streaming period.
Under is a breakdown of the place a number of the high broadcast sequence acquired their viewers within the 2024-25 season.