• by Wayne Friedman , 11 hours ago

With the backdrop of Nielsen saying it is making adjustments to “currency” ratings, Nielsen's broader-looking Gauge and Media Distributor Index measures showed continuing declines in linear TV and gains in streaming share trends for February.

Streaming platforms posted a gain in share versus February a year ago, with a 48% share (from 43.5%) -- keeping to its general overall rising trend.

In addition, linear TV continues to trend down 41.7% (for broadcast and cable), versus 46.4% a year ago. This came even as NBCU posted major viewing gains from its coverage of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. NBC/Peacock also aired the Super Bowl.

Previously, Nielsen announced it would align itself in the adoption of the ARF DASH study’s updated "universe" estimates. These are total households with TVs, cable and/or streaming services.

Nielsen, with the release of February’s Gauge, says: “Nielsen made enhancements to its currency ratings [emphasis added] for advertising in February 2026, with impact data provided to clients and the industry in advance.”

Nielsen did not offer to disclose specific details of those changes. 

Nielsen initially delayed the February release of the Gauge and Media Distributor Index to make methodological adjustments.

It now says "it is working on updates to The Gauge and MDG [Media Distributor Gauge] reports to better reflect and include currency enhancements for the Fall TV season, at which time Nielsen will provide additional back data to clients to assist in the transition."

Nielsen reiterated that: “The Gauge and Media Distributor Gauge (MDG) do not reflect Nielsen's currency TV ratings [emphasis added] that inform advertising sales.”

Nielsen says The Gauge and MDG reflect total TV viewing, which includes both ad-supported and non-ad-supported viewing.

Early analysis by some executives believe Nielsen’s readjustment would show a nominal single digit percentage gain in certain areas of linear TV viewing and more modest results for streaming.

Linear TV witnessed declines versus February 2025 despite NBCU’s airing of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on its networks and platforms. But the entire broadcast TV category for February inched up 21.7% (from 21.2%) a year ago. Cable TV sank to 20.0% (from 23.2%)

Nielsen says NBCU, and its spinoff Versant Media channels, posted a massive 48% viewing gain over January 2026. NBCU’s Peacock almost doubled its share year over year -- to 3.0% from 1.8%.

Looking at Nielsen Media Distributor Index -- which aggregates media platforms for each media company -- the Olympics/Super Bowl helped NBCU-Versant hit the industry’s best result for the month, accounting for a top level 13.1% share for total TV usage.

This topped the previous leader in the index -- YouTube -- which had a 12.7% share. YouTube has been at the top of the Nielsen Media Distributor Gauge for 11 consecutive months.

This story has been updated.