Nielsen’s “Media Distributor Gauge” report for May showed that Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) saw the largest gain among media distributors, adding 0.3 share points during the month versus April to finish with 7% share of total television usage.
WBD’s increase was driven by TNT, which saw a 69% viewership surge over last month, due in large part to its coverage of the NBA Playoffs, according to the media analytics and research firm.
“The eight New York Knicks games carried by TNT amassed nearly 7 billion viewing minutes combined,” Nielsen said on Tuesday. “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 (NASDAQ:FOX) (NASDAQ:FOXA) gained 0.2 points in May and tied with WBD with the same 7% share of TV, Nielsen said. The gains were fueled by the continued growth of its FAST service, Tubi.
In the lead position, YouTube (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) held 12.5% share of total TV and gained 0.1 share point in May.
Nielsen noted that while YouTube saw monthly declines in virtually every demographic group (with the exception of audiences 65+), its overall decrease was ultimately less than that of total TV.
Media Distributor Gauge (Nielsen)
Earlier this month, Nielsen reported that TV viewership through streaming overtook broadcast and cable combined, a new milestone in the U.S. media sector. The report showed that time spent streaming accounted for 44.8% of total TV viewing in May. Cable made up 24.1% of total TV viewing, and broadcast’s share was 20.1%.
Pay TV distributors: Comcast (CMCSA), Charter (NASDAQ:CHTR), Dish Network (NASDAQ:SATS), Verizon FiOS (NYSE:VZ), Optimum/Suddenlink (NYSE:ATUS), Atlantic Broadband (OTCPK:CGEAF), Sparklight (NYSE:CABO).
Relevant local broadcast tickers: Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST), Sinclair Broadcast Group (NASDAQ:SBGI), Gray Television (NYSE:GTN), Tegna (NYSE:TGNA), E.W. Scripps (NASDAQ:SSP).
National broadcasters: ABC (NYSE:DIS), NBC (NASDAQ:CMCSA), CBS (NASDAQ:PARA) (NASDAQ:PARAA), Fox (NASDAQ:FOX) (NASDAQ:FOXA).
Ad-tech names tied to connected TV: The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD), Magnite (NASDAQ:MGNI), PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM), Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO), Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU), Illumin (OTCQB:ILLMF).