• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 27, 2026

What should we be looking at now when it comes to Nielsen’s upcoming Gauge reports -- especially if they will be re-calculated to include the Advertising Research Foundation DASH universe estimates in a few months?

Will it be that streaming is not so good? Or that linear TV -- both broadcast and cable -- are perhaps not so bad?

At best, the Gauge has been a broad benchmark of where we have been, and where we think we should be.

Apart from the DASH issue, there may be more missing from this broad measure of where things are now in the TV-streaming ecosystem.

The Gauge currently does not offer granular results when it comes to individual premium platforms of its programming or segmented viewing, for example, of Netflix’s ad-supported viewers versus its ad-free watching viewers.

Digging deeper, there is no data -- for viewers and minutes viewed -- per program, for those ad-supported viewers, although we do get overall viewing minutes. And for old-school media buyers and brands, there is no demographic breakdown of those viewers

Also because the Gauge uses measurement of total persons two years and older, analysts believe it skews heavily toward younger demographics which means more streaming households, resulting in a stronger-looking performance of streaming platforms versus linear cable and broadcast.

In that regard, Nielsen does note the obvious: The Gauge is not "currency" -- the determining measure that media buyers use to value their media plans.

With all that as a backdrop, Nielsen says that in the second quarter of this year, its Ad-Supported Gauge showed streaming increasing its share lead over linear TV for total-day viewing for persons two years of age and up.

This comes as Nielsen continues to issue notices that its viewing data for all its Gauge and other releases will be adjusted in the fall to reflect new media universe estimates coming from the Advertising Research Foundation’s DASH study.

Nielsen says: “This is significant because this approach, while consistent with previous months of the Gauge, will have different results than production data.”

For the second quarter of this year, streaming was at a 48.2% share, with broadcast at 26.6% and cable TV at 25.2%. Streaming came in lower than the previous year -- at 45.3% for second-quarter 2025 -- with broadcast at 26.0% and cable TV at 28.7%.

Total ad-supported streaming and TV is now at 71.% -- down from 73.6% a year ago. Non-ad supported is up 28.5% from 26.4%.

Total linear TV (broadcast and cable) was down from a year ago -- to 51.8% from 54.7%. These changes came despite major live sports events benefiting linear TV on broadcast, especially the NBA Playoffs and Finals and the FIFA World Cup.

With that context, we will continue to ask more questions -- and there may be some clearer answers coming.