Nielsen has released new data aimed at helping advertisers plan media investments during the annual TV upfront negotiations, offering a detailed breakdown of audience behavior across ad-supported television platforms.
The new upfront planning guide examines viewership trends across key audience demographics and sports programming, with the goal of helping advertisers make more informed decisions when allocating budgets.
Brian Hughes, Nielsen’s director of data communications, said the research is intended to help marketers think more strategically about where audiences are spending time across the television ecosystem.
“The idea is really to get them thinking about it,” Hughes said. “I’m really hoping it gives people ideas and helps them want to go deep with the data and figure out the best way forward.”
Viewing patterns across ad-supported TV
The analysis shows that Adults aged 18–49 spend 63.8 percent of their television viewing time with ad-supported TV, highlighting the continued importance of advertising-supported platforms in reaching key consumer groups.
Streaming accounts for 66.7 percent of that ad-supported viewing time, according to the data.
Within streaming platforms, the majority of viewing occurs on ad-supported tiers of subscription services. Nielsen found that 81.1 percent of adults 18–49 streaming viewership takes place on ad-supported tiers of platforms such as YouTube, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock and Paramount+.
The remaining 19 percent of streaming viewership occurs on FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) platforms, which Nielsen said attract a more diverse audience profile and are increasingly popular among viewers aged 35–64.
Meanwhile, non-FAST AVOD platforms—including services such as Disney+ and Netflix—continue to attract younger audiences. Nielsen said these platforms effectively capture viewers in the 18–34 and 2–17 age groups.
Despite the growth of streaming, 33.4 percent of total television viewing time still occurs on linear TV, which Nielsen described as critical for live sports, major events and news programming.
Sports remain a major driver of ad-supported viewing
Sports programming continues to account for a significant share of ad-supported television viewing.
According to Nielsen, sports represented nearly 30 percent of all ad-supported TV viewing among adults aged 25–54 in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Different platforms also attract distinct audience profiles for sports programming.
Nielsen said NBA games on NBC attract broad audiences, while Prime Video’s NBA coverage skews toward younger digital-native viewers who tend to watch less linear television.
Prime Video also has a higher proportion of adults aged 18–34 in its audience, though NBC attracts a comparable overall number of viewers within the same demographic.
Among broadcasters, ABC and ESPN recorded the highest viewership within the 18–34 audience segment, according to the data.
Measurement and upfront planning
Nielsen’s panel plus big-data measurement system remains the primary currency used by publishers and advertisers when negotiating advertising deals for the 2026 upfront season.
The measurement approach faced scrutiny during the previous upfront cycle after the Media Rating Council (MRC) said it had identified “unusual changes” in the measurement results.
A Nielsen spokesperson said the system remains accredited by the MRC and that the company follows the organization’s voluntary code of conduct. The MRC has also said Nielsen proposed several measures to address the issues identified.
Hughes said the new data reflects Nielsen’s broader effort to provide more detailed insights to advertisers and agencies.
