Live streaming gains popularity as audience for traditional election broadcasts declines

The 2024 presidential election demonstrated changing viewing habits, with traditional TV channels declining and streaming platforms reporting record viewership.

Nielsen Media Research said 42.3 million viewers watched election coverage across 18 networks, down 25% from 56.9 million viewers in 2020. Fox News dominated traditional media with 13 million viewers across its portfolio, including 10 million during its prime-time broadcast of Democracy 2024.

Meanwhile, streaming platforms have amassed significant audiences.

According to YouTube, a variety of live election coverage was broadcast on YouTube, accounting for more than 80% of total viewing time on streaming platforms. Flow graphs.

The election coverage generated 84 million hours of viewing, with a peak concurrent audience of 9.14 million viewers.

Fox News’ YouTube channel recorded peak concurrent viewers of 1.14 million, while NBC News reached 616,900 viewers.

At the Rumble, political commentators Dan Bongino and Steven Crowder achieved the highest ever viewership on their channels. Twitch streamer HasanAbi attracted 313,400 concurrent viewers.

The coverage landscape has expanded to include new entrants: Amazon Prime Video aired its first election special, hosted by Brian Williams.

Viewer engagement patterns showed clear differences between traditional and streaming audiences. While traditional television coverage was concentrated in the prime time slot from 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm ET, streaming coverage often aired continuously from the start of voting until the final results.

US viewers accounted for 72.3% of streaming viewing time, as well as significant audiences from India and the UK.