
Nielsen Reports Major Recent Ratings Milestones for CBS and Paramount Series
NEW YORK - February 3, 2025 - Paramount Global and Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, have signed a new, multi-year deal, effective immediately. The partnership includes measurement for all Paramount platforms: national and local broadcast, all cable networks, and streaming on Paramount and Pluto TV. Paramount has licensed new Nielsen services as part of the agreement, including Advanced Audiences, Big Data Panel, Ad-Supported Streaming Platform Ratings, Nielsen ONE Ads for Connected Television, and National out-of-home expansion to inform advertising, programming and licensing strategies.
The announcement was made today by Karthik Rao, Nielsen CEO and George Cheeks, President and CEO, CBS and Co-CEO, Paramount Global.
We are thrilled to resume our partnership with Paramount, as their leaders continue to build one of the strongest brands in entertainment, said Rao. Our trusted data shows how Paramount's content and advertising strategy is thriving across every platform, across all ages and demos. As Paramount continues its evolution into a next-generation media company, we're proud to play a critical role and know this deal will be a win for everyone: Nielsen, Paramount and all of our joint advertising partners.
Paramount and Nielsen are committed to addressing Television's multiplatform future to the benefit of all of our stakeholders. Karthik and his team continue to meet the needs of our marketplace across all our platforms, and we are incredibly pleased to reinforce and reinvigorate our deal with our longtime partner, said Cheeks. Paramount Global's ratings wins reported today are just one of many successes we look forward to with Nielsen as we build upon this new future together.
Paramount hit a number of recent ratings milestones. CBS' broadcast of the AFC Championship Game on January 26 averaged 57.7 million viewers, setting the all-time record for the AFC and the largest overall conference championship in fifteen years. CBS coverage of the 2024 NFL regular season included three of the top five NFL games in October; the highest rated game (27.5 million viewers) in the November interval; and two of the top five in a hotly contested December. As the broadcast season swung into action this fall, CBS again established itself as a leader in broadcast dramas, building on its track record to develop new franchises. Tracker came back for its second season and took the crown as the top drama program in October (11.3 million average viewers), November (11.6 million) and December (10.8 million). Even more impressive is the stable of successful drama titles including this season's breakout new hit, the reimagined Matlock, which came in a close second to Tracker in all three months and was joined by FBI, Elsbeth, NCIS, and the farewell season of Blue Bloods in the top 10 every month this fall. The total viewing time by Americans of CBS dramas across the fourth quarter of 2024 topped 50 trillion viewing minutes, which approaches 100,000 years of viewing, more than any other broadcast network.
Paramount also experienced major success in 2024 with original series Lioness, Tulsa King, and one of the most talked about shows of the season, Landman, which has given the platform its first billion-minute (in a week) performer. The three titles have all appeared in the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 simultaneously in multiple weeks this fall, another first for the platform. Paramount also earned wins for its multi-platform strategy. In 2024, the most-watched new dramas across broadcast and streaming combined were Tracker, with 26.07 billion minutes viewed (CBS, Paramount , Hulu) and Elsbeth, with 14.94 billion minutes viewed (CBS, Paramount ).
The deal comes on the heels of a number of Nielsen innovations. On February 3, Nielsen announced its Out-of-Home (OOH) measurement now covers 100% of the US contiguous television population. In January 2025, Nielsen was accredited for Big Data Panel measurement, following its November 2024 announcement of its accreditation for a first-party live streaming solution.
About Paramount
Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA, PARAA) is a leading global media, streaming and entertainment company that creates premium content and experiences for audiences worldwide. Driven by iconic consumer brands, Paramount's portfolio includes CBS, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount and Pluto TV. Paramount holds one of the industry's most extensive libraries of TV and film titles. In addition to offering innovative streaming services and digital video products, the company provides powerful capabilities in production, distribution, and advertising solutions.
For more information about Paramount, please visit www.paramount.com and follow @ParamountCo on social platforms.
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. For advertisers, agencies, and publishers, Nielsen has recently expanded Nielsen ONE to include outcomes capabilities, in addition to advanced audiences, planning and measurement. Nielsen's measurement is powered by person-level data from panels of over 1.2 million individuals and backed by the scale of the industry's largest big data footprint and broadest coverage across digital, linear, streaming, and CTV. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).
Contacts:
Jake Urbanski, Nielsen Communications (jake.urbanski@nielsen.com)
Car
More from Nielsen
11/06/2026
Study underscores the need for authoritative content intelligence to build trust...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
09/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
05/06/2026
MRI-Simmons and S&P Global Mobility are expanding advanced audience capabilities...
05/06/2026
New Nielsen data shows insurance ad spend grew 11%, while consumers remain highl...
02/06/2026
The TV agency was one of the earliest adopters of Nielsen's local television...
23/05/2026
Nielsen Global Leadership Network graduates celebrate Earth Day 2026
Nielsen vo...
22/05/2026
Latest data reveals steady distributor rankings, a seasonal shift toward digital...
21/05/2026
HBO Max, a new addition to Gracenote Data Hub, is home to the most sports programming among major streamers
NEW YORK May 21, 2026 New analysis by Gracenote...
20/05/2026
Cable Captures Only Monthly Increase Among Viewing Categories in March, Earns it...
20/05/2026
April brought a symbolic decrease in the overall time spent in front of television screens. On average, Poles watched video content for 3 hours and 51 minutes a...
15/05/2026
86% of media planners would move more linear TV budget to CTV if they had show-level targeting and reporting - and 65% would also shift dollars from programmati...
14/05/2026
Car ad spend rises sharply in March as more auto buyers turn to electric, hybrid...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
28/04/2026
Triton Digital's Podcast Metrics Demos+ Data Integration Enables Comprehensi...
27/04/2026
Available for current Nielsen ONE Ads customers, this new capability predicts sa...
22/04/2026
The nation unites around football team's World Cup dream
Warsaw, Poland, 20.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data, and media intell...
22/04/2026
Warsaw, Poland, 22.04.26: Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, data...
22/04/2026
New market intelligence offering gives businesses a clearer view of local consum...
21/04/2026
Advertising strategies shift as competition grows for a large, active and qualit...
18/04/2026
The first signs of spring in March led to Poles spending significantly less time in front of their screens, leading to a sharp 22-minute drop in average viewing...
16/04/2026
The integration accelerates demographic audience delivery across local markets a...
15/04/2026
NBCU-Versant notches 13.1% of TV viewing in February, its best since August 2024...
15/04/2026
New data reveals older Kiwis are financially resilient, loyal to local products,...
14/04/2026
Ruiz has helped fuel growth for both client-side and media companies, including, most recently, TelevisaUnivision.
He will spearhead transformation, innovatio...
08/04/2026
New Gracenote study finds behavioral change well underway, but trust in AI-gener...
03/04/2026
New York April 2, 2026 TelevisaUnivision, the world's leading Spanish-la...
31/03/2026
Rebel Sport leads ad investment as brands compete for a large, active and qualit...
25/03/2026
The company expands leadership team under Chief Revenue Officer Amilcar Perez
S...
25/03/2026
Winter Olympic Games Opening Ceremony features in top 10 programmes of the month...
20/03/2026
After a series of increases, February brought the first slowdown in time spent in front of TV sets in a long time. While traditional television was losing viewi...
16/03/2026
NEW YORK - March 16, 2026 - A E Global Media and Nielsen today announced a new,...
12/03/2026
Cost pressures, switching intent and demand for savings and credit products are ...
12/03/2026
For the first time, Nielsen breaks out demographic information about FAST and AV...
06/03/2026
Nielsen Highlights Women's Sports Viewership Milestones Ahead of International Women's Day on March 8
New York March 5, 2026 According to Nielsen...
03/03/2026
Nielsen's DMA data gives Magellan AI users a standardized way to measure th...
02/03/2026
Harvey Norman tops New Zealand's biggest ad spenders as retail leads and telcos and beverages surge Auckland March 3, 2026 - Nielsen's New Zealand'...
27/02/2026
NEW YORK - February 26, 2026 - An estimated 32.6 million people watched President Donald J. Trump deliver the 2026 State of the Union address on Tuesday, Februa...
25/02/2026
This new offering helps solve for the need to move beyond traditional audience d...
25/02/2026
Gold-standard Gracenote content metadata will power Samsung's LLM-enabled entertainment search discovery experiences and more
NEW YORK February 25, 202...
24/02/2026
Disney Captures 11.9% of TV in January, Boosted by ESPN's ( 82%) College Foo...
20/02/2026
NEW YORK - February 10, 2026 - An estimated 125.6* million viewers watched Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8, according to Nielsen's Big Data Panel meas...
20/02/2026
NEW YORK - February 19, 2026 - Nielsen today shared updated and final Super Bowl...
19/02/2026
WBD edges above Polsat in only change in the top 10 content distributor rankings...
19/02/2026
Airlines and cruise operators ramp up spend as New Zealanders plan, compare and book online
Auckland, February 19, 2026 - New Nielsen Ad Intel data shows adver...
19/02/2026
The beginning of the new year brought a clear revival in front of television screens. The winter aura meant that Poles spent an average of 5% more time watching...
19/02/2026
New data also shows news content on FAST channels up 58% as streaming catalogs c...
17/02/2026
Cable Surges 9% on Strength of College Football Playoffs and News, while NFL Delivers Top 15 Broadcast Telecasts
ESPN (+82%) and FOX News Channel (+17%) Combin...
11/02/2026
NEW YORK - February 10, 2026 - An estimated 124.9 million viewers watched Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8, according to Nielsen's Big Data Panel measu...
10/02/2026
NEW YORK February 10, 2026 Nielsen's Gracenote, the global leader in entertainment metadata, today announced the continuation of its partnership with Go...