• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

Legacy TV-based media, and their associated streaming platforms, continue to lose ground to digital-first media companies -- YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Roku Channel -- according to Nielsen Media Distributor measure.

Nielsen's Media Distributor gauge aggregates total TV usage viewing minutes of persons age two years and up across all video platforms -- linear, streaming, local and national.

YouTube is now at a 13.4% leading share for July -- up more than 10.4% versus the same month a year ago. Netflix -- now in third place -- grew to 8.8% (8.4%, a year ago), while Amazon is at 3.9% (3.5%). Roku Channel rose to 2.8%, up from 1.6%.

Compared to June, Nielsen says Netflix had the largest volume gain across all streaming platforms in terms of average minute audience -- up by 215,000 viewers -- as well as the best gains across all viewing demographic categories month-to-month.

Right behind YouTube in second place is Walt Disney, dipping 9.4% (from 9.9%).

NBCUniversal, in third place, saw a major decline -- to 7.6% from 9.5%. NBCU had a strong July 2024, driven by high viewership in the initial days of the Paris Summer Olympics at the end of that month.

Paramount dipped to 7.0% (7.4%), while Fox dipped to 6.5% from 7.4%. Warner Bros. Discovery is now at 6.1% -- down more than a full percentage point (7.2%).

Midsized cable TV network/TV station groups remained mostly the same, with Scripps at 2.2% (vs. 2.2%); Weigel Broadcasting at 1.4% (vs. 1.4%); Hallmark 1.1% (vs. 1.2%), A+E Networks at 1.0% (vs. 1.2%); and AMC Networks at 0.8% (vs. 1.0%).