Disney Fails To Top YouTube Once Again On The Nielsen Media Distributor Gauge In May
Nielsen has released its latest “Gauge” data update for May 2025, which gives a broad overview of how Americans watch television, including linear and streaming services like Disney+ and Hulu.
According to the latest Nielsen report, in May, YouTube maintained the leading share of total TV viewing, with Disney coming in second place with its content being shared among linear channels like ABC and streaming services like ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+.
The largest monthly increases in share belonged to multiplatform distributors, Warner Bros. Discovery and FOX, mainly due to the Basketball season.
Warner Bros. Discovery exhibited the largest gain of any distributor in May, adding 0.3 share points versus April to finish the month with 7.0% of total television usage. WBD’s increase was overwhelmingly powered by TNT, which notched a 69% jump in viewership over last month due in large part to its coverage of the NBA Playoffs. The eight New York Knicks games carried by TNT amassed nearly 7 billion viewing minutes combined. In fact, the NBA Playoffs generated 31.4 billion viewing minutes overall in May across WBD and Disney entities, with nearly a quarter of the viewing total attributable to Knicks games.
FOX added 0.2 points to its share of TV in May. While it was partly due to NASCAR traction on FOX Sports 1, FOX’s increase was primarily due to the continued growth of its FAST service, Tubi. Tubi achieved a platform-record 2.2% share of TV viewing in May, driven by a 25% increase among 18-24 year-olds, and accounted for nearly a third of FOX’s overall viewing total. FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery each finished the month with a 7.0% share of TV, although WBD came out slightly ahead based on unrounded figures and moved up to sixth overall in the distributor ranking. It’ll be interesting to see if Warner Bros. Discovery will be able to maintain this growth next month, having lost some of the NBA rights.
YouTube extended its streak as the leading media distributor to four consecutive months, gaining 0.1 share point in May to represent 12.5% of total TV. While YouTube actually exhibited monthly declines in virtually every demographic group (with the exception of audiences 65+), its overall decrease was ultimately less than that of total TV, leading to a monthly gain in share and yet another platform best.
Roger’s Take: The monthly Gauge data from Nielsen is always a good indication of how the American audience is consuming its television. This month saw Disney hold onto the same amount of viewership, neither going up or down. While it continues to outperform the other studios, it still lags behind YouTube, although many might argue that the content types are quite different.
What did you watch on TV in May? Let me know on social media!
