Posted in: NBC, TV, YouTube | Tagged: macy's thanksgiving day parade, nbc, thanksgiving

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Scores Largest TV Viewership Yet

NBC's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade scored its largest viewing audience yet - with the 2023 edition brining in more than 28 million viewers.

Published Fri, 24 Nov 2023 16:28:07 -0600

by Ray Flook

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Article Summary

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade hits a record 28 million-plus viewers in 2023.
NBC’s parade coverage praised by Jen Neal for bringing holiday joy to audiences.
The event scored a 7.2 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, a 6% increase from last year.
Peacock's top simulcast ever, with streaming hours more than double the previous year.

Monkey D. Luffy's hat may have deflated during the 97th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade – but the ratings for the holiday tradition did anything but. NBC reports that the parade pulled in more than 28 million viewers – the best-ever viewership numbers for the NYC-based event. "We're absolutely thrilled that a record number of people were able to enjoy the parade with their families and friends and spend the day with us," said Jen Neal, Executive Vice President, Live Events and Specials, NBCUniversal Media Group. "We take great pride in bringing the best holiday programming to our audience – across both NBC and Peacock – and there's no better way to bring in the season than with balloons, marching bands, musical performances, and a tradition like no other. A big thank you to Macy's for being such great partners on this iconic event."

Digging deeper into the numbers, that figure is the total across all platforms – including the NBC live viewing (8:30 a.m.-12 p.m.; a half-hour longer than last year's telecast but still an increase on an average audience basis), the encore telecast (2-5 p.m.) and on Peacock. In terms of the 18-49 demo, the parade pulled a 7.2 rating. In terms of how that holds against the numbers on last year's parade, we're looking at an increase of 6% in both the viewership level and the demo rating. When a look at the live linear telecast, 22.3 million viewers (5.3 in the demo) put the parade as the highest entertainment program of the year across all of television in both of the categories we previously mentioned. In addition, it's also the top-ranked entertainment program in both categories – the first time since the 2021 parade. And on the streaming side, The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was Peacock's top entertainment simulcast since the streamer first debuted – more than doubling the streaming hours from last year's parade.

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