Nielsen has released its latest Media Distributor Gauge data for October 2024, which takes a look at how much of each studio’s content is being watched. According to October’s Media Distributor Gauge, Disney holds onto the top spot, beating out NBC Universal and YouTube, to take the largest share of television viewing across linear and streaming platforms.

Disney took advantage of its multiplatform capabilities and repeated as the top media company in October, adding 0.4 share points from September to notch 11.7% of overall TV. Disney was buoyed by a 7% increase in viewing to ABC broadcast affiliates as a result of NFL and college football, as well as the consistent performance of ABC World News Tonight. Meanwhile, an 8% bump in viewership to ESPN, driven by both football and baseball, was the largest gain among Disney’s cable networks.

FOX has been able to increase its spot on the Media Distributor Gauge, scoring higher than Netflix, increasing their overall viewership by 16%.   It has also benefited from a 2.5% lift in Tubi viewing and an increase in viewership from sports broadcasts from the NFL and MLB.

Unlike most viewership charts, which usually just focus on either streaming or linear viewing, this data highlights how, when combined, the legacy media studios are still more popular than Netflix, which dominates the streaming viewership, but has no linear viewership.

One of the biggest issues facing Disney is how its content is spread out across different platforms like Hulu and Disney+, and channels like ABC, FX, National Geographic, etc, but this data pulls all of that together, showcasing the overall picture for Disney.

Roger’s Take:   It’s interesting to see how the legacy studios are still creating more content that people are enjoying than on some of the biggest streaming services like Netflix and Amazon. 

Do you think Disney will be able to continue to hold onto the first place?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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