• by Wayne Friedman , July 1, 2019

Media stocks grew 25% in the first half of the year, better than the broader stock market indices.

The Dow Jones U.S. Broadcasting & Entertainment Index rose 24.9% for the first six months of 2019 to 1,518.14 through midday Monday trading. The broader Dow Jones U.S. Media Index is up 24% to 1014. Dow Jones’ U.S. Media Agency index grew 13% to 617.54.

By way of comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Index is higher by 14% to 26,690, while the S&P 500 is 18% more to 2,958 and Nasdaq grew 22% to 8,079.

Some of the biggest-performing media stocks continue to include digital media platforms: Facebook up 47% to $192.31; Netflix growing 39% to $372.68; Amazon 28% more to $1,917.50, and Apple rising 27% to $201.00.

One of the biggest growth stories: Connected TV platform Roku is up 198% for the first six months of the year to $91.14 -- and 110% higher versus a year ago. Social media platform Snap rose percentage-wise near the same level -- 163% -- since the first of the year, to $14.50.

On the flip side, one of the weaker but still growing digital media companies, Alphabet (Google), inched up 4% more to $1,096.30.

Large, traditional media companies also touted gains, with Walt Disney growing 29% to $141.55; Discovery 23% more to $30.54; Charter Communications rising 39% to $397.14 and Comcast Corp. improving 25% to $42.54.

Two potential media companies involved in a possible merger also added gains: Viacom rising 18% to $30.20 and CBS Corp. 15% higher to $50.36.

TV station groups also had big increases, with Sinclair Broadcast Group more than doubling (107%) to $54.53; Tegna rising 40% to $15.18 and Nexstar Media Group up 32% more to $104.00.

Other top performers include satellite TV pay TV provider Dish Network Group, which is 54% higher to $38.47. Twitter gained 25% to $36.03.

One rare laggard is cable TV network group, AMC Networks -- virtually flat for the first six months at $54.83, and down 12% from a year ago.