MRI-Simmons Launches Streaming + Local Study to Unlock Deeper Consumer Insights Across 205 U.S. Markets

The new study combines cord-cutting profiles and media consumption habits to help advertisers optimize their local media strategies.

In a step forward for local media planning, MRI-Simmons has launched a new Streaming + Local Study, offering advertisers comprehensive insights into evolving media habits and other consumer behaviors across 205 local U.S. markets.

The Streaming + Local Study combines insights from two core MRI-Simmons studies; Cord Evolution and Local Flex.

Cord Evolution examines why and how viewers shift from traditional TV to streaming platforms, and tracks viewing behaviors across more than 180 streaming services.
Local Flex provides hyper-local insights into more than 8,000 brands and 1,000 psychographic and attitudinal traits that can be analyzed at the ZIP code, county, DMA, or custom regions. Local Flex also contains insights into consumers’ use of different media platforms, including TV, print, and radio.

MRI-Simmons' Streaming + Local Study provides local media owners and marketers with deeper insights into the media and technology habits of consumers, empowering advertisers to identify effective local media strategies – particularly in smaller markets.

In particular, the new study features:

Streaming insights across 205 leading local markets for marketers and media owners to identify and target high-value markets.
Streaming profiles for over 180 entities from Acorn TV to YouTube Premium.
Ten predefined cord groups, ranging from traditional cable subscribers to digital-first streamers, enabling accurate market sizing.
Comprehensive local audience profiles, empowering advertisers and media owners to analyze and target high value personas to optimize campaign performance.

“Through our new Streaming + Local Study, we unlock a new level of insights into local media behaviors that were previously unavailable from MRI-Simmons,” said Mike Merna, Head of Sales at MRI-Simmons. “We are proud to bring innovative solutions to our clients that utilize the rigorous methodology and data science MRI-Simmons is known for. This new study empowers our clients to make smarter, more localized media decisions—driving better engagement and ROI.”

“Through our new Streaming + Local Study, we unlock a new level of insights into local media behaviors that were previously unavailable from MRI-Simmons,” said Mike Merna, Head of Sales at MRI-Simmons. “We are proud to bring innovative solutions to our clients that utilize the rigorous methodology and data science MRI-Simmons is known for. This new study empowers our clients to make smarter, more localized media decisions—driving better engagement and ROI.”

Mike Merna, Head of Sales, MRI‑Simmons

Download the product sheet to learn more about MRI-Simmons' Streaming +Local Study

Frequently Asked Questions

1What is MRI‑Simmons’ Streaming + Local Study?

The Streaming + Local Study from MRI‑Simmons delivers comprehensive insights into streaming behaviors, cord‑cutting trends, and media consumption across 205 U.S. local markets. By combining data from MRI‑Simmons’ Cord Evolution and Local Flex studies, it enables advertisers and media owners to better understand how consumers engage with streaming and other media at a highly localized level.

2What data sources power the Streaming + Local Study?

The study combines select variables from two core MRI-Simmons studies:

Cord Evolution, which examines why and how consumers move from traditional TV to streaming and tracks viewing behavior across more than 180 streaming services.
Local Flex, which provides hyper‑local insights into over 8,000 brands, 1,000+ psychographic and attitudinal traits, and media usage across platforms such as TV, print, and radio—analyzable down to ZIP code, county, DMA, or custom regions.

3How does the study help advertisers and media owners plan and optimize local campaigns?

MRI-Simmons' Streaming + Local Study allows users to build detailed local audience profiles using more than 300 variables tied to streaming habits, device usage, media consumption, and attitudes. These insights help advertisers identify high‑value personas, optimize market selection, tailor messaging, and design more effective local media strategies—especially in smaller and mid‑sized markets.

4What streaming and cord‑cutting insights does the study provide?

The study delivers deep visibility into streaming behaviors across 180+ platforms, from Acorn TV to YouTube Premium, including ad‑supported and subscription environments. It also features ten predefined cord groups, ranging from traditional cable subscribers to digital‑first streamers, enabling accurate market sizing and clearer understanding of cord‑cutting motivations, and platform preferences.

5How does Streaming + Local create a competitive advantage?

By uniting local geographic precision with rich streaming, media, and consumer insights, Streaming + Local unlocks a level of understanding that was previously unavailable in local media planning. The result is smarter, more localized decision-making that helps brands and media owners increase engagement, improve performance, and drive stronger ROI across today’s fragmented streaming landscape.

About MRI‑Simmons
MRI‑Simmons, a joint venture majority‑owned by NIQ (NYSE: NIQ), is the leading provider of insights on the American consumer. A leader in consumer insights for over 60 years, MRI‑Simmons possesses one of the few data sets widely used across the media ecosystem for consumer profiling, media planning, audience research, and insight‑driven audience development. Powered by address‑based probabilistic sampling, MRI‑Simmons measures real people, chosen at random, to represent the U.S. population in all its diversity—resulting in the most accurate view of the American consumer.