YouTube reclaimed the top spot in Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge in March with a 13.5% share of TV viewing. The move comes as total time spent streaming during the month fell 7% to a share of 47.6%.
The Alphabet-owned video platform added a half-point to its share despite viewing volume declining about 3%. Trailing behind in second was Disney with a 10.5% share, which was driven by ABC’s coverage of the Oscars and a record 5.3% share for its streaming properties.
NBCUniversal and Versant finished in third with a combined share of 8.4%. The former made up 6.1% of the total, while the latter made up 2.3%. Peacock also climbed 19% year-over-year for a total share of 1.8%. Netflix finished fourth with an 8.2% share, driven primarily by the latest season of “Bridgerton.”
Paramount rounded out the top five with an 8.1% share and had the second largest monthly gain of any media distributor, driven by March Madness coverage as well as CBS’ “60 Minutes” and dramas “Tracker” and “The Marshals.” CBS represented seven of the top 10 broadcast telecasts for the month. Paramount’s streaming properties finished the month with a 2.2% share.
Fox finished the month at a 7.2% share, driven by a heavy news cycle, including Fox News Channel’s State of the Union coverage. Tubi ended the month with a 2.2% share.
Warner Bros. Discovery ranked in seventh at 6.1%, but saw the largest monthly gain among media distributors for the month, driven by increases at CNN and HBO Max, as well as NCAA basketball tournament coverage on TBS, TNT and TruTV. “The Pitt” and March Madness simulcasts drove WBD’s streaming properties to a 1.4% share for the month.
Rounding out the remainder of the list was Amazon at 3.8%; The Roku Channel at 3%, the highest annual viewing increase of any distributor; Scripps at 1.7%, Weigel Broadcasting at 1.4%, A+E Networks at 1%, Hallmark at 0.8% and AMC Networks at 0.7%.
“Bridgerton” topped March’s streaming titles with 7.8 billion viewing minutes, while “The Pitt” clocked 5.7 billion viewing minutes, becoming the second-most streamed title for the month.
“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Bluey,” “Zootopia 2” and “Family Guy” represented four of the top 10 streaming titles in March and amassed over 16 billion viewing minutes across the month. The Hulu original series “Paradise” ranked just outside of the top 10 titles with 3.6 billion minutes.
Meanwhile, broadcast finished the month with a 20.3% share, while cable ended the month at 21.4%.
Cable was the only category to record a monthly viewing increase in March, resulting in its largest share since October 2025. The increase was driven by cable news, which represented 29% of the category’s viewership for the month, and the return of the NCAA basketball tournaments.
The largest monthly uptick across age demographics came from 18-24 year-old viewers, whose viewing jumped 8%, likely driven by March Madness.
