TL;DR
- Comscore launched The Score Report on 21 October 2026; the launch release covers the August 2026 US broadcast month, and the report page also holds May to July 2026 data.
- In August 2026, broadcast held 43.2% of US TV ad exposure time, cable 34.5% and streaming 22.3%, up from 16.1% over the 12 months ending August 2026.
- Among US streamers, YouTube had 44.4% of ad exposure time, Tubi 11.6% and Hulu 8.5%; Comscore's publisher table puts YouTube at 9.9% of all US TV ad exposure time.
- The metric counts in-home TV sets only, excludes phones, tablets and computers, and credits YouTube TV and other vMVPD viewing to the originating network.
- Comscore says the share is not a measure of ad spend, inventory, reach or frequency, and the report contains no data outside the US.
YouTube accounted for 44.4% of all ad exposure time on US streaming services in August 2026, according to the first edition of Comscore's new monthly Score Report, published on 21 October 2026. Streaming as a whole still took only 22.3% of measured US TV ad exposure time, behind broadcast at 43.2% and cable at 34.5%. The figures measure advertising seen on in-home TV sets only, and YouTube TV is not counted as YouTube: ads watched through virtual pay-TV services are credited to the network that aired the content. The data covers the United States only.
What Comscore launched on 21 October 2026
Comscore, the US media measurement company, announced The Score Report from Reston, Virginia, in a press release dated 21 October 2026. You can read the announcement in Comscore's press release on The Score Report. The report is built around one key metric, Share of Ad Exposure Time, across US television platforms, networks, owners and local markets. New editions will be published monthly. The release presents findings for the August 2026 broadcast month, and the public report page also lets readers select May, June and July 2026.
Comscore's FAQ for the report explains the timing: each edition covers a complete broadcast month of four or five weeks, so a report published in October contains August data. The public report presents a subset of Comscore's data. Expanded rankings, deeper market-level analysis and historical trends are offered as paid products.
How Share of Ad Exposure Time is defined
The definition matters more than usual here, because the metric is easy to misread. Comscore's FAQ defines Share of Ad Exposure Time as an entity's total ad exposure time divided by all measurable advertising exposure captured in the report's universe during the reporting period. The data notes say it includes all ads, both linear-originating and streaming-originating, national and local, across the 210 US markets Comscore tracks.
Comscore is explicit about what the number is not. Per the FAQ, it does not measure how long people watch a service, network or show. It is not a measure of available ad inventory, the number of ad slots, ad spend, unique reach or frequency. It is shaped by audience size, time spent with ad-supported content and ad load, and a higher share "does not inherently indicate" better performance, effectiveness or viewer experience.
Three scope rules shape every figure in the report:
- TV sets only. The report measures ads seen on a television in the home: linear broadcast and cable, plus streaming on smart TVs and TV-connected streaming devices. Ads seen on desktops, laptops, phones and tablets are excluded.
- vMVPD viewing goes to the original network. For virtual pay-TV services that stream linear channels, such as YouTube TV, Sling and Hulu Live, ads are credited to the cable network or broadcast station where the content originated. Comscore's own example: an NBC ad watched through YouTube TV counts for NBC, not YouTube.
- Shares, not minutes. The press release reports percentages only. It does not give the absolute number of ad minutes behind them.
Put together, YouTube's 44.4% describes ads served on YouTube's own platform and watched on a TV screen at home. It excludes YouTube TV's linear channels, and it excludes everything watched on YouTube from a phone or laptop.
The August 2026 numbers
Comscore's 21 October 2026 release gives the following figures for the August 2026 broadcast month.
| Measure (US, August 2026) | Share of ad exposure time |
|---|---|
| Broadcast, share of all TV ad exposure | 43.2% |
| Cable, share of all TV ad exposure | 34.5% |
| Streaming, share of all TV ad exposure | 22.3% |
| YouTube, share of streaming ad exposure | 44.4% |
| Tubi, share of streaming ad exposure | 11.6% |
| Hulu, share of streaming ad exposure | 8.5% |
Note the two different bases. The first three rows are shares of all measured TV ad exposure. The last three are shares of streaming ad exposure only. Comscore's own Top 20 publisher table on the report page puts YouTube at 9.9% of total US ad exposure time in August 2026, fourth behind ABC (10.9%), NBC (10.4%) and CBS (10.2%), with Tubi TV at 2.6%. Digiday, reporting on the same data on 21 October, gave the same picture: roughly 10% for YouTube and roughly 3% for Tubi across streaming, broadcast and cable combined.
Streaming's share over twelve months
Comscore says streaming's share of measured TV ad exposure climbed from 16.1% to 22.3% over the 12 months ending August 2026, a gain of 6.2 percentage points. The recent run was 21.1% in June, 21.9% in July and 22.3% in August, with the gain coming from cable, per Comscore.
Digiday added context from an interview with Kevin Burns, Comscore's chief of staff and interim chief revenue officer, who gave it the year-earlier figures. Digiday linked a February 2026 rise in streaming's share to NBCUniversal's "Legendary February", when the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics and the NBA All-Star Game fell in one month and were streamed as well as broadcast. A Comscore spokesperson also told Digiday that the World Cup likely lifted Peacock, Tubi and Fox One in June.
The race for third place
YouTube and Tubi have held the top two streaming positions throughout, according to Comscore. Third place has changed hands every month: Amazon Prime Video in May (7.4%), Netflix in June (8.0%), Peacock in July (7.2%) and Hulu in August (8.5%). Comscore suggests Hulu's August rise may reflect a large expansion of its ad-supported catalogue that month, and expects competition for attention to stay intense as other services do the same.
The gap between viewing and ad exposure
Comscore frames the report around a gap. Its own CTV Intelligence data says over 74% of US households stream on connected TV, and its Plan Metrix data says 130.6 million US adults, or 47% of the adult population, used a free or ad-supported streaming service in the three months before August 2026. Yet streaming carries only 22.3% of TV ad exposure time. Burns said in the release that viewership is no longer a sufficient proxy for ad-addressable audiences as people move across channels and devices. Dan Lanzano, President of National Ad Sales at Nexstar, welcomed the added transparency in the same release.
Comscore does not break the gap down by cause. Digiday noted the contrast with Nielsen's The Gauge, which reports total watch time rather than ad exposure, and in which streaming has overtaken broadcast and cable TV.
What the report does not tell you
A few limits are worth stating plainly before using these numbers in a plan or a pitch:
- It says nothing about ad effectiveness, prices or return. Comscore's FAQ rules those readings out.
- It does not cover mobile or desktop video. None of YouTube's phone, tablet or computer viewing is in the 44.4%.
- It is US data. The release gives no figures for any other country, and none for Thailand or Southeast Asia.
- The public report page holds four months of data, May to August 2026, plus a 12-month trend for the platform split running from September 2025 to August 2026.
What it suggests for YouTube and CTV planning
This section is analysis, not a claim made by Comscore. The report gives media planners an outside measure of something that platform dashboards do not show: how much of the TV-screen ad time in a market sits with each seller. In the US, YouTube on the TV set now holds close to half of the streaming slice and about a tenth of all TV ad time. For advertisers who still treat YouTube as a mobile or desktop channel, that is a reason to check how much of their own YouTube delivery already lands on TV screens, and whether creative built for a phone works on a living-room display.
One point applies well outside the US. Share of viewing and share of sellable ad time are different things. A platform can lead on hours watched and still carry a small share of ad exposure if many of its users pay to skip ads, while a free, ad-supported service can punch above its viewing share. When comparing video channels in any market, ask what the metric actually counts, which devices it includes and how it handles bundled or resold channels.
What this means for Thai marketers
The Score Report contains no Thai data, so none of these shares should be quoted as if they describe Thailand. What carries over is the method. When a platform or vendor presents a share figure for TV or CTV in Thailand, check whether it measures viewing time, ad exposure, reach or spend, and whether YouTube on a TV set is counted separately from YouTube on a phone. The e-Conomy SEA 2026 report from Google, Temasek and Bain, also published on 21 October 2026, says online video in Southeast Asia keeps gaining share from TV, particularly through connected TV, but it gives no Thailand-specific CTV split. For brands planning YouTube advertising, the practical step is to review device reporting in your own account and set TV-screen creative and frequency goals deliberately, then connect that work to your wider Google Ads strategy.
FAQ
What is Comscore's Score Report?
The Score Report is a monthly Comscore publication, launched on 21 October 2026, that shows each US TV platform's Share of Ad Exposure Time. The launch release covers the August 2026 broadcast month, the report page also includes May to July 2026, and new editions will follow monthly.
Does YouTube's 44.4% include YouTube TV?
No, YouTube's 44.4% excludes YouTube TV, because Comscore credits ads watched through vMVPD services to the network where the content originated. An NBC ad watched on YouTube TV is counted for NBC.
Does the report include phones and laptops?
No, the report measures only ads seen on in-home TV sets, including smart TVs and TV-connected streaming devices. Ads seen on desktops, laptops, phones and tablets are excluded.
Is Share of Ad Exposure Time the same as ad spend or reach?
No, Comscore says the metric does not measure ad spend, inventory, number of ad slots, unique reach or frequency. It reflects audience size, time with ad-supported content and ad load combined.
Is there Thai or Southeast Asian data in the report?
No, the Score Report covers the United States only, across the 210 markets Comscore tracks. Comscore published no figures for Thailand or any other Southeast Asian market in this release.
The bottom line
Comscore's first Score Report shows YouTube as the leading ad-supported streaming platform on US TV screens in August 2026, with 44.4% of streaming ad exposure time, while streaming overall still trails broadcast and cable in ad time. Read the numbers with their scope attached: US only, TV sets only, shares rather than minutes, and YouTube TV counted elsewhere. If you want to review how your YouTube campaigns perform across TV, mobile and desktop in Thailand, Relevant Audience can help you read the device data and plan from it.
