While coverage varied by network, 15 networks televised the address from approximately 9:12 p.m. ET – 10:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday. A full list of reported networks can be referenced in the viewership summary table below.

Please note: Beginning September 1, 2025, television program viewership is reported based on Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel methodology.

Source: Nielsen Big Data + Panel. NNTV, Live+SameDay.

Data in this table is inclusive of broadcast and cable networks that aired the event, in addition to PBS. Streaming simulcasts also contributed where available. 2026 reported TV networks include: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, EstrellaTV, Telemundo, Univision, PBS, CNN, CNN en Espanol, FOX Business, FOX News Channel, MS NOW, Newsmax, NewsNation.

Audience estimates are inclusive of out-of-home viewing for all reported networks except Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS, which do not include out-of-home contributions.

Audience projections are rounded to the nearest thousand (000).

State of the Union Historical Viewership

Source: Nielsen

Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel methodology was implemented in September 2025. All prior reporting was based on Nielsen’s Panel-Only measurement.

Time-shifted viewing (Live+Same-Day, 3am-3am) is included in audience estimates in this table for years 2006 and later. Estimates prior to 2006 include live viewing only. 

* Single asterisks denote addresses that were officially “Addresses to Joint Sessions of Congress.” 

^ Denotes tape-delayed coverage by a particular network. 

** 1/23/07: coverage of asterisked (**) networks went beyond a common end time. Measurement of these networks included SOTU address and commentary. Does not include Democratic Response.

Press Contacts: 

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NEW YORK – February 25, 2026 – Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen, is helping Samsung Electronics, a global leader in consumer electronics, bring outstanding entertainment experiences enabled by AI to Samsung smart TV users worldwide. 

Grounded by Gracenote metadata, the definitive source of truth for entertainment content, Samsung will deliver advanced search capabilities enabling users to find precisely the TV shows, movies and sports programs they want through more intuitive, conversational interactions. In addition, Samsung can offer enchanting new content discovery capabilities enabling curation of compelling carousels and recommendation of relevant program choices to viewers in lean-back experiences.

Beyond powering outstanding consumer-facing experiences that maximize engagement, the new agreement also allows Samsung to leverage Gracenote to develop innovative new offerings and realize AI-driven operational efficiencies. 

For AI and LLM-driven entertainment experiences to be effective, they must deliver accurate, relevant and up-to-date information to viewers. This makes high-quality structured, program metadata and universal content IDs critical inputs. Leveraging editorial judgment to enhance data quality and content, machine-driven workflows to improve speed and human-in-the-loop processes to maximize scale, Gracenote’s knowledge base of TV, movie and sports data is widely considered the media and entertainment industry’s gold-standard.

“Samsung is committed to delivering the most useful and engaging entertainment experiences to our users,” said Bongjun Ko, Corporate EVP at Samsung Electronics. “By combining our AI technology with Gracenote’s industry-leading metadata, we aim to push content search and discovery to new heights, delighting viewers by empowering them to find the entertainment they love intuitively and naturally.”

“The structured nature of Gracenote’s entertainment metadata and the scale of our content coverage put us in a unique position to power LLM-driven use cases,” said Jared Grusd, CEO at Gracenote. “We’re pleased to join forces with Samsung and are confident our collaboration will yield innovative user experiences and benefits extending far beyond.” 

Gracenote is helping the world’s most innovative video platforms and services push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI for the benefit of their end users who are increasingly relying on the advanced technology across all facets of their daily lives. In the AI age, Gracenote’s curated, edited and human-verified data will serve as the source of truth for all entertainment experiences across video, sports and music.

About Gracenote

Gracenote is the content data business unit of Nielsen, providing entertainment metadata, content IDs and related offerings to the world’s leading creators, distributors and platforms. Gracenote has aggregated, normalized and enriched core program metadata covering 50M+ titles in 260+ streaming catalogs in 70+ languages and 80+ countries. Gracenote technology enables advanced content navigation and discovery capabilities helping individuals to easily connect to the TV shows, movies, music and sports they love while delivering powerful content analytics making complex business decisions simpler. For more information, visit Gracenote.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact

Gracenote
Mark Yamada
mark.yamada@nielsen.com

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New York, February 25, 2026 – Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and marketing intelligence, today announced that it has introduced more than 200 new advanced audiences segments. They are available immediately via the company’s cross-media planning and measurement solution, Nielsen ONE.

The new segments, which draw on Nielsen’s consumer insights solutions arm, Scarborough, cover many of today’s key advertising categories, such as automotive, retail, lifestyle, political and even media habits (consumers of local news, heavy radio listeners, heavy social media users, and more).

From a big picture perspective, this expansion is a strategic response to the industry’s urgent demand for addressability and interoperability at scale. Pairing Scarborough’s national consumer dataset with Nielsen ONE’s cross-media insights creates a marketing intelligence platform that gives clients everything they need to understand their audience in one place. Streamlining this process helps facilitate a more efficient ad marketplace by ensuring that media spend is optimized from the initial strategy through to final impact, significantly reducing waste and driving higher ROI.

Building on that momentum, Nielsen plans to launch hundreds of additional advanced audiences segments in the coming months to further expand on this existing library. 

“For decades, Scarborough has been the gold standard for deep consumer and market insights. We’ve combined Scarborough’s trusted consumer data with Nielsen ONE to meet the demands of a modern, outcomes-driven industry. This integration gives marketers the specific insights they need to reach the right people and accurately measure their campaign’s success,” said Ellie Pryor, Vice President, Global Audiences & Identity, Nielsen. “The end result is a solution that provides marketers with actionable insights to inform their campaign planning and measurement.”

About Nielsen

Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences—now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).

Media Contact:

Elaine Wong
Nielsen Communications
elaine.wong@nielsen.com

The post Nielsen Utilizes Scarborough To Introduce 200+ New, Advanced Audience Segments Via Nielsen ONE appeared first on Nielsen.

YouTube Leads with 12.5% of TV, Netflix Maintains No. 3 Rank with 8.8%

NEW YORK – February 24, 2026 – In a month where television viewing reached a 12-month high, Disney captured the largest month-over-month gain in Nielsen’s January 2026 Media Distributor Gauge report, a monthly view of total TV consumption aggregated by parent company. Disney added 1.2 share points and finished with 11.9% of total television viewing in January, nearly tying its Media Distributor Gauge best (12.0% in January 2025), and bringing it within 0.6 share points of YouTube’s 12.5% lead. 

Disney’s momentum was primarily fueled by ESPN’s coverage of the College Football Playoffs and Championship games, which drove an 82% monthly viewing increase on the network and contributed nearly a full share point to Disney’s total. Disney also got a boost from its ABC affiliates, with viewing up 10% among them on the strength of multiple NFL games, the Citrus Bowl, the return of broadcast dramas, and seasonal staples like New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and The Rose Bowl Parade. ABC’s High Potential and ABC World News Tonight were notably the top broadcast programs in each of their respective genres in January.

Netflix represented 8.8% of TV usage in January and maintained the No. 3 rank among distributors. Netflix’s overall usage was up slightly in January (+1%), and its original series Stranger Things claimed the top streaming program for a second consecutive month.

NFL games carried on NBC, plus simulcasts on Peacock, were a key factor in the 5% overall increase to NBCU-Versant* this month. Peacock also benefited from a new season of its original series The Traitors. Additionally, Telemundo affiliates saw a 13% jump in viewership powered by the sports reality hit Exatlón, bringing the network’s monthly share contribution to 0.7 points. Overall, NBCU-Versant represented 8.5% of TV viewership in January (+0.3 points vs. December).

FOX climbed to 7.4% of TV viewership in January (+0.4 points). This growth was largely underpinned by a 17% jump in viewing on FOX News Channel, which accounted for more than half (+0.25 points) of FOX’s monthly share increase.

Led by increases on FYI (+46%) and Lifetime (+14%), A&E’s combined viewership climbed 8% in January (+0.1 point) and moved up one slot in the distributor rankings. 

* Note: While Versant formally completed its spin-off of NBCUniversal cable networks in early January, advertising sales for both entities have been retained by NBCU. For this reason, and to preserve data trends and insights in these reports, NBCU and Versant will be reported together in the Media Distributor Gauge. However, to further acknowledge the change, the companies’ respective shares will be included in the Media Distributor Gauge chart. 

The January 2026 interval spanned four weeks, from 12/29/2025 through 01/25/2026. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.

January ’26December ’25November ’25October ’25September ´25August ´25July ´25June ´25May ’25April ’25March ’25February ´25January ’25December ’24

January ’26December ’25November ’25October ’25September ´25August ´25July ´25June ´25May ´25April ´25March ´25February ´25January ’25December ’24

About The Gauge™

The Gauge™ is Nielsen’s monthly snapshot of total broadcast, cable and streaming consumption that occurs through a television screen, providing the industry with a holistic look at what audiences are watching. The Gauge was expanded in April 2024 to include The Media Distributor Gauge, which reflects total viewing by media distributor across these categories. Read more about The Gauge methodology and FAQs.

About Nielsen

Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences—now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).

Press Contact

Lauren Pabst
lauren.pabst@nielsen.com

The post Disney Scores Best Performance in a Year in Nielsen’s January 2026 Media Distributor Gauge appeared first on Nielsen.

The telecast on NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital and NFL+ drew a combined average household rating of 39.7.

Updated data was provided after initial ratings were made public on February 10. Additional ratings updates from February 8 are also now available to Nielsen clients.

About Nielsen

Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences—now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).

Press Contact

The post Nielsen: Super Bowl LX Final Viewership Rises to 125.6 Million Viewers with Verified Big Data appeared first on Nielsen.

NEW YORK – February 19, 2026 – Gracenote, the content data business unit of Nielsen,  has found that sports program offerings across the top five subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services jumped 52% year-over-year (YoY). This sharp increase, identified in the latest Gracenote Data Hub update, underscores the importance of sports content (live games + related content) to providers’ audience engagement strategies. 

Paramount+ emerges as SVOD’s top sports destination

Over the past year, Paramount+ has vaulted past Amazon Prime Video and Netflix to lead in streaming sports programming at the individual game and event level. Following its acquisition of UFC broadcast rights from ESPN starting in January 2026, the service now delivers more than twice the sports content of any SVOD platform, up 219% YoY. During the same period, the Disney+ sports catalog contracted 23%.

FAST channels proliferate, led by news and sports

Streaming content growth has extended beyond subscription platforms to no-cost, no-commitment services. Gracenote’s analysis of 2,060 FAST channels available worldwide revealed that sports content on FAST grew 30% YoY. With more than 200 dedicated news channels now available, news programming on free ad-supported streaming services increased 58%. Movies and TV shows available on FAST rose 26% and 24% YoY respectively.

About The Gracenote Data Hub

Launched in November 2024, the Gracenote Data Hub provides insight into the content available on leading global SVOD services and FAST channels. The resource taps Gracenote Global Video Data, the industry’s most comprehensive database of TV and movie information which powers advanced content search, discovery and recommendations capabilities. Updated quarterly, the Hub’s visualizations reveal how leading SVOD catalogs and FAST channels are evolving over time and what these shifts signal.

About Gracenote

Gracenote is the content data business unit of Nielsen, providing entertainment metadata, content IDs and related offerings to the world’s leading creators, distributors and platforms. Gracenote has aggregated, normalized and enriched core program metadata covering 50M+ titles in 260+ streaming catalogs in 70+ languages and 80+ countries. Gracenote technology enables advanced content navigation and discovery capabilities helping individuals to easily connect to the TV shows, movies, music and sports they love while delivering powerful content analytics making complex business decisions simpler. For more information, visit Gracenote.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact

Mark Yamada
mark.yamada@nielsen.com

The post Sports programming on major streaming platforms surges 52% year-over-year, according to Gracenote appeared first on Nielsen.

The average daily time spent in front of the screen was 4 hours and 19 minutes, representing an increase of 12 minutes compared to December 2025. This is also nearly 2 minutes higher than in January of last year.

In traditional television, January brought a change on the podium of the most-watched stations – TVP2 overtook TVN, yielding only to Polsat. Viewers remain loyal to proven hit series and news programs. The ranking of the most-watched programs is invariably dominated by the series “M jak Miłość” (TVP2), the news program “Fakty” (TVN), and the medical drama “Na dobre i na złe” (TVP2), which closed January at the very top.

The streaming segment recorded a very strong start to the year, reaching a 10.5% share of total viewership on television screens. Within this segment, there was an equalization of power among the leaders. While YouTube’s share fell to 2.3% (from 2.6% in December), Netflix recorded an increase from 2.1% and currently shares the leadership position with YouTube, achieving the same result – 2.3%.

About The Gauge™

The Gauge™ was created to provide the media industry with a monthly analysis of television usage across key television delivery platforms. Nielsen published its first edition of The Gauge™ in the U.S. in May 2021.

About The Gauge™ Methodology

The data comes from Nielsen’s single-source panel consisting of 3,500 households and almost 9,700 panelists. The Gauge™: Poland is based on monthly AMR (Average Minute Rating) audience share data. The data is presented for people over 4 years old, broken down into cable, satellite, terrestrial television (both linear and shifted in time up to 7 days), and viewership from streaming (live streaming viewership of TV stations on OTT platforms is classified as streaming viewership). The “Other” category includes views of unrecognized content.

Nielsen Poland created this iteration of The Gauge™ using methodologies comparisons.

The post The Gauge™: Poland | January 2026 appeared first on Nielsen.

Auckland, February 19, 2026 – New Nielsen Ad Intel data shows advertising spend across the travel category in New Zealand rose 9.9% year-on-year, reaching $264.4 million in 2025, up from $240.5 million in 2024.

Airlines remained the largest segment by ad spend, investing $89.6 million in 2025 (a 31.6% increase year-on-year). The highest-investing airline-related advertiser was Air New Zealand, followed by Qantas Airways, Auckland International Airport, Christchurch International Airport, and Fiji Airways, according to Nielsen Ad Intel.

Beyond air, many other travel sectors grew. Domestic accommodation climbed to $38.4 million (up 29.4%), while Shipping Lines, Cruises and Ferries rose to $25.0 million (up 27.7%). Travel Agents also remained a major segment at $50.6 million.

Nielsen’s latest Consumer & Media Insights (CMI) insights also reinforce how planning behaviour is shaping the market. It shows that 58% of Kiwis now usually plan and book holidays online, while 18% research online but book through a travel agent. At the same time, 74% of New Zealanders say they would consider going on a cruise, while 48% plan to travel by air within New Zealand in the next 12 months.

Destination intent suggests why the category remains so competitive, with the UK/Europe grabbing top spot as the most desired overseas destination, followed by Sydney, then Melbourne. Closer to home, Queenstown leads as NZ’s top travel destination, followed by Auckland and Christchurch/Canterbury.

Matty Lin, Nielsen APAC Regional Sales Leader said: “Nielsen’s latest CMI data shows most travellers tend to plan and book online. However, travel agents still have a role to play, catering to those who’ve done their research online, but want a little extra reassurance and peace of mind, particularly for bigger, more complex trips.”

Rose Lopreiato, Nielsen Ad Intel’s Australia Commercial Lead, added: “Travel is growing in NZ, with ad investment up nearly 10% year-on-year. That growth is intensifying competition across airlines, cruises and destinations. Nielsen Ad Intel gives advertisers the independent view of where budgets are moving, which brands are spending big or dialling back, and which channels are driving the change. That clarity helps marketers know competitors, spot challenges early, and invest with confidence where eyeballs convert to bookings.”

About Nielsen Consumer & Media Insights (CMI)

Nielsen Consumer & Media Insights, with its extensive breadth and depth of data, lets you access consumer research that is vital to achieving strong business and marketing goals.

It is an essential tool for understanding the constantly evolving consumer landscape. With rich demographic and lifestyle data, and information on purchasing behaviours and intentions alongside extensive media habit reporting, CMI helps you shape successful brand, advertising and marketing strategies.

CMI provides an invaluable resource for identifying priority audiences to inform the planning, buying, or selling of advertising media, to inform business and consumer strategies, and to build a comprehensive market/category landscape view.

About Nielsen Ad Intel

Ad Intel provides the most complete source of cross-platform advertising intelligence available today. With intuitive software, review-and-compare ad activity across media, company, category or brand, plus historical data.

Note: Nielsen monitors gross advertising expenditure in major media at published rate card values. While discounts are made available from some media owners, rates are not openly available. Please also note that the category and brand/product groupings figures are grouped at Nielsen’s discretion.

About Nielsen

Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences – now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).

Media Contact

Dan Chapman

Assoc. Director, Communications, Nielsen APAC

dan.chapman@nielsen.com

+61 404 088 462

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Warsaw, Poland, 18.02.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data, and analytics, has today published its All Screens Video Landscape Report looking at data in Poland from January 2026. The report reveals that Warner Bros. Discovery has taken back the top spot in the distributor rankings, a position it has not occupied since May 2025.  

The All Screens Video Landscape Report tracks total household viewership (defined as a combination of total reach and time spent) in Poland across four screens – TVs, PCs/laptops, smartphones, and tablets. January’s data saw Warner Bros. Discovery increase its audience share percentage from 17.59% in December 2025, to 18.35% in January 2026, with Polsat in second place with 17.54% and TVP taking the final podium position with a 17.21% share. All other rankings in the top 10 remain unchanged.

January also saw an increase in the time spent watching content in Poland. Both linear TV and streaming time spent increased by 5% from December 2025 to January 2026. This is a significant increase given that the new TV Universe (which is announced by Nielsen every year) represents new weighting rules for 2026 and subsequently accounts for an approximate 1% growth, meaning January did see audiences watching content for considerably longer. 

In terms of screen share splits, Google viewership on the TV from December 2025 to January 2026 dropped slightly (down 2%) as more viewers sought out its content across other screens, whereas for Netflix, there was a 2% increase in viewership on the TV screen (86%, up from 84% in December 2025).

Lucyna Koba, Market Leader, Nielsen Poland, said: “January’s data marks a significant milestone in the Polish media landscape, with Warner Bros. Discovery reclaiming the top distributor spot for the first time since last spring. As is so often the case, it is a highly competitive ‘battle for the podium’ with just over one percentage point currently separating the top three distributors. It’s a clear indication that the fight for engagement continues to be intense.

What is particularly striking is the 5% surge in time spent across both linear and streaming platforms. This year’s exceptionally harsh winter and subsequent cold weather clearly acted as a catalyst for the increased time spent, keeping audiences indoors and anchored to their screens.”

About Nielsen

Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences—now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).

Distributors January 2026 

Polsat: Eleven Sports1, Eleven Sports2, Disco Polo Music, Eska Rock TV, Eska TV Extra, Eska TV, Fokus TV, Nowa TV, Polo TV, Polsat, Polsat Café, Polsat Doku, Polsat Film, Polsat Games, Polsat Music HD, Polsat News, Polsat News2, Polsat Play, Polsat Rodzina, Polsat Seriale, Polsat Sport 1, Polsat Sport 2, Polsat Sport Fight, Polsat Sport 3, Polsat2, Super Polsat, Wydarzenia 24, TV4, TV6, Vox Music TV, Polsat News Polityka, Polsat X, Polsat Reality, Polsat Film2, Polsat Box Go, Polsat Go, Polsatnews.pl, Interia.pl

Warner Bros Discovery: Cartoonito, Cartoon Network, Warner TV, Animal Planet HD, Discovery, Discovery Historia, Discovery Life, Discovery Science, Discovery Travel & Living, Discovery World, Discovery Civilisation, DTX, Eurosport1, Eurosport2, Food Network, HGTV, Investigation Discovery, Metro, TLC, Travel Channel, TTV – Twoja Telewizja, TVN, TVN Fabula, TVN Style, TVN Turbo, TVN24, TVN 24 Bis, TVN7, Max, Player, TVN24.pl

TVP: TVP4K, TVP ABC, TVP Dokument, TVP HD, TVP Historia, TVP Info, TVP Kultura, TVP Kobieta, TVP Nauka, TVP Polonia, TVP Rozrywka, TVP Seriale, TVP Sport, TVP1, TVP2, TVP3

Google: YouTube

TV Puls: TV Puls, Puls2

Telewizja Republika: TV Republika

Meta: Facebook, Instagram

SPI International: Stopklatka, Kino Polska, Kino Polska Muzyka, Kino TV, Zoom TV, Gametoon, Novelas+1, FILMBOX Premium, FILMBOX Family, FILMBOX Action, FILMBOX Extra

Netflix: Netflix

Canal+: Canal+ Premium, Planete+, Ale Kino+, teleTOON+, Minimini+, CANAL+ KUCHNIA, Novelas, CANAL+ EXTRA1, CANAL+ EXTRA2, Canal+Seriale, Canal+ DOMO, Canal+1, Canal+Film, CANAL+ SPORT, Canal+360, CANAL+ SPORT5, Canal+ Dokument, CANAL+SPORT2, CANAL+SPORT3, CANAL+SPORT4, DocuBox, CANAL+(online)

Press contact

Ben Gold, Director of Communications, EMEA
E: ben.gold@nielsen.com
M: +44 7816 252 017

Market contact
Lucyna Koba, Market Lead, Nielsen Poland
E: lucyna.koba@nielsen.com
M: +48 602 477 386

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