The news: Nielsen released its 2026 planning guide ahead of Upfronts, analyzing ad-supported viewership across streaming, free-ad supported streaming TV (FAST), and linear.

The findings reinforce the ongoing shift in viewing habits—as total time spent with video continues to rise and traditional TV declines, driven by faster growth in digital consumption—and underscore the need for advertisers to treat ad-supported TV as an integrated ecosystem.

• Adults ages 18 to 49 spend nearly two-thirds (63.8%) of their TV viewing time with ad-supported content. Within this group, streaming accounted for 66.7% of time spent with ad-supported TV.
• 81.1% of viewing time for this cohort went to ad-supported subscription tiers on platforms like Hulu and Amazon Prime; the remaining 19% went to FAST platforms like Roku Channel and Pluto. FAST channels captured the “growing attention of those ages 35 to 64.”
• 28% of Gen Xers stated that they frequently purchase products they encounter through streaming TV ads.
• Non-FAST advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD) remained the winner for younger viewers between 2 to 17 and 18 to 34.
• Linear accounted for 33.4% of total time with ad-supported TV.
• Sports represented nearly 30% of viewing time for adults 25 to 54 in Q4 2025.

The planning guide comes as Nielsen is facing scrutiny from the Media Rating Council over "unusual changes in measurement results” with Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel.

Zooming out: Nielsen’s data reflects the rapid fragmentation of TV content in the modern digital landscape, but traditional TV is still relevant.