Labor Day weekend is behind us. Some households have returned from the beach, the mountains, and lake towns, and schools are now back in session. With summer officially winding down and everyday life returning, traditional television faces a critical test this fall: reversing the massive ratings collapse it suffered over the summer.
Building on our previous reporting via two Goldman notes (here & here) and one UBS note (here), the consumer shift away from traditional cable and satellite TV toward streaming platforms has accelerated.
For the first time in 15 years, UBS analyst John Hodulik confirmed in early July that streaming officially surpassed traditional TV in terms of consumption.
Next, we noticed Goldman’s Nielsen tracker, which provided further evidence that cord-cutting accelerated at the end of summer and continued through August.
The latest Nielsen tracker data was published by a team of Goldman analysts led by Michael Ng on Tuesday.
Data for the week ending August 31 was yet again bleak:
We update our summary of total day cable ratings (L3, target demos) to capture network viewership performance across the cable universe. In 3Q25-to-date (through week ending August 31) total day ratings declined at DIS (-14%), PSKY (-23%), FOX (-19%), WBD (-26%), AMCX (-35%), and CMCSA (-48%).
The full story doesn’t end here. Pro Subs can see the entire report (here).
For advertisers, traditional TV ratings collapse is another blow: the viewership base is dwindling, leading some marketers to scramble for new, innovative platforms to reach consumers.
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