Paramount Global and Nielsen have signed a new, multi-year ratings measurement deal, effective immediately.
The partnership covers measurement across all Paramount platforms. This includes national and local broadcasts and cable networks. It also involves streaming services like Paramount+ and Pluto TV. As part of this deal, Paramount has obtained new Nielsen services.
These include Advanced Audiences and Big Data + Panel. They also include Ad-Supported Streaming Platform Ratings, Nielsen ONE Ads for Connected Television, and expanded national out-of-home capabilities. These tools will help guide advertising, programming, and licensing decisions.
Paramount achieved several significant ratings milestones recently. CBS’s broadcast of the AFC Championship Game on January 26 drew an average of 57.7 million viewers, marking a record for the AFC and the highest for any conference championship in fifteen years.
During the 2024 NFL regular season, CBS aired three of the top five NFL games in October. It had the highest-rated game in November with 27.5 million viewers, and saw two games in the top five in a competitive December.
This fall, as the broadcast season began, CBS reaffirmed its position as a leader in broadcast dramas. It continued its successful trend of creating new franchises. Tracker returned for its second season, becoming the top drama in October (11.3 million average viewers), November (11.6 million), and December (10.8 million).
Notably, the reimagined Matlock emerged as a new favourite. It ranked closely behind Tracker each month. Other popular shows like FBI, Elsbeth, and NCIS consistently made the top 10. The final season of Blue Bloods also appeared in the top rankings every month this fall.
In total, Americans watched CBS dramas for over 50 trillion minutes in the fourth quarter of 2024. This is nearly 100,000 years of viewing. CBS dramas outpaced all other broadcast networks.
Paramount+ also saw significant success in 2024 with original series like Lioness, Tulsa King, and the much-discussed Landman.
Landman marked the platform’s first show to reach one billion viewing minutes in a week. All three series appeared in the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 concurrently for multiple weeks this fall, a first for Paramount+.
The company also excelled with its multi-platform approach. The most-watched new dramas across broadcast and streaming were Tracker, with 26.07 billion minutes viewed (CBS, Paramount+, Hulu), and Elsbeth, with 14.94 billion minutes (CBS, Paramount+).
This news follows recent innovations from Nielsen. On February 3, Nielsen announced that its Out-of-Home (OOH) measurement now includes 100% of the US contiguous television audience.
In January 2025, Nielsen received accreditation for Big Data and Panel measurement. This followed its November 2024 announcement of accreditation for a first-party live streaming solution.