Disney has maintained the largest share of TV viewing among all media companies in the United States for the past six consecutive months, according to newly released data from Nielsen.
Nielsen has introduced a new monthly metric called the Media Distributor Gauge alongside its established Gauge rankings for viewing by platform (streaming, cable, and broadcast). The inaugural release of this gauge for April reveals that Disney captured 11.5 percent of all TV usage and secured the highest share of TV viewing time among all conglomerates.
During the reporting period spanning from April 1st to April 28th, Disney’s total TV usage share amounted to 11.5 percent which includes streaming on Hulu and Disney+ along with its cable and streaming properties such as ABC and ESPN. Notably, Hulu and Disney+ contributed 4.9 percent to this figure. Furthermore, ABC and ESPN jointly broadcasted the most-watched single telecast, in April, featuring the record-breaking NCAA women’s basketball championship game, which drew in an audience of 18.87 million viewers.
Notably, with a 9.6 percent share, YouTube secured second position in the distributor rankings, maintaining its status as the leading individual streaming platform for a consecutive year. Meanwhile, NBC Universal at 8.9 percent, Paramount at 8.8 percent, and Warner Bros. Discovery at 8.1 percent, rounded up the top five while Netflix claimed the sixth spot with a 7.6 percent share.
Further down the distributor rankings, with nearly 4 percent of TV usage in April are Scripps Networks (including Ion and Bounce TV) and Weigel Broadcasting (MeTV). Additionally, securing a 1.4 percent share on the list is the Roku Channel which stands out as the sole standalone FAST service. Notably, with just 1 percent threshold for inclusion in the rankings are cable stalwarts A+E Networks, Hallmark, and AMC Networks.
According to Nielsen’s distributor data spanning the past six months, Disney consistently led by topping the rankings each month since November 2023. Over this period, Disney averaged approximately 11.4 percent of TV usage. Furthermore, from November to January NBCUniversal and Paramount secured second or third positions, bolstered by NFL games aired on their broadcast networks.