College Football and NFL Preseason Drive Increases for ABC Affiliates ( 4%), ESPN ( 25%) and FOX Broadcast Affiliates ( 14%)
YouTube and Netflix Maintain Position in Top Three of Nielsen's Media Distributor Gauge, Withstanding Initial Back-to-School Impacts to Streaming
NEW YORK - September 23, 2025 - Football was the common catalyst for Disney and FOX in August, as coverage of a new college football season along with NFL preseason drove the only share increases for companies in this month's Media Distributor Gauge. Disney climbed to 9.7% of TV watch-time in August ( 0.3 share points vs. July), as football coverage helped drive a 4% bump for ABC affiliates and a 25% surge for ESPN. The viewing impact from FOX affiliates contributed to a 14% monthly uptick, leading FOX to represent 6.7% of TV ( 0.2 points).
While the effects of a new football season will not be fully evident until September, its late-month impact was a clear indicator of what's to come. When comparing the first and last weeks of the August interval (07/28/25-08/03/25 vs. 08/25/25-08/31/25), viewing to FOX affiliates was up 36%, ABC affiliates gained 29%, and ESPN surged 196%, which was due at least in part to a memorable season premiere of College GameDay. What's more, Disney's share of TV started at 8.9% in the first week of the month, and concluded with 11.5% of TV in the final week.
This football-driven surge countered the back-to-school drop in viewing among school-aged audiences, with streaming viewership being the most impacted by this group, as detailed in the August report of The Gauge. Top-ranked YouTube gave up 0.3 share points and finished the month with a 13.1% share of TV. Meanwhile, Netflix held steady in third with 8.7% of television (-0.1 point) on the strength of owning the top four streaming titles of the month.
Beyond the top three, shares for NBCUniversal and Paramount remained even with July, finishing with 7.6% and 7.1%*, respectively. Like Disney and FOX, both NBCU and Paramount were buoyed by gains across their broadcast affiliates as the two also benefited from the return of football.
The August 2025 interval spanned five weeks, from 07/28/2025 through 08/31/2025. Nielsen reporting follows the broadcast calendar, with weekly intervals beginning on Monday.
*Note: Paramount's streaming total in July was originally reported as 1.9% and has since been updated to 2.0%. As such, Paramount's media distributor total was also updated from 7.0% to 7.1% in July.
August 25July 25June 25May '25April '25March '25February 25January '25December '24April '24November '24October '24September '24May '24August '24July '24June '24March '24November '23February '24January '24December '23
August 25July 25June 25May 25April 25March 25February 25January '25December '24November '24October '24September '24August '24July '24June '24May '24April '24March '24February '24January '24December '23November '23
About The Gauge The Gauge is Nielsen's monthly snapshot of total broadcast, cable and streaming consumption that occurs through a television screen, providing the industry with a holistic look at what audiences are watching. The Gauge was expanded in April 2024 to include The Media Distributor Gauge, which reflects total viewing by media distributor across these categories. Read more about The Gauge methodology and FAQs.
About Nielsen Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences-now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).
Press Contact Lauren Pabst
lauren.pabst@nielsen.com
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
23/09/2025
SVG All-Stars: Michael Treanor, Senior Producer, Live Events, MLB NetworkFrom production assistant to lead producer, his career growth reflects that of the spor...
23/09/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Blackmagic's Bob Caniglia on the New ProDock and What it Means...
23/09/2025
Less Is More: How The Premier League, SailGP, and the PGA European Tour Lean Har...
23/09/2025
Ryder Cup Preview: NBC Sports Lead Golf Producer Tommy Roy Looks To Ramp Up Ente...
23/09/2025
Ryder Cup Preview: T-Mobile 5G To Power TV Production, Event Operations T-Mobile Breakfast at Bethpage' onsite pregame show will make its debutBy Ken Kersch...
23/09/2025
MLB Greenlights Automated Ball Strike (ABS) System for 2026 SeasonThe system relies on T-Mobile's 5G private network and Sony Hawk-Eye camerasBy Jason Dachm...
23/09/2025
Take SMPTE's Content Provenance and Authenticity Survey Today!Survey's goal is to identify gaps in current standards, explore interoperability with emer...
23/09/2025
From September 15 to October 15, we celebrate Latin Heritage Month, a time to honor the culture, creativity, and voices of Latin communities around the world. I...
23/09/2025
Music and streetwear have always spoken the same language, and Spotify is turnin...
23/09/2025
When Bad Bunny announced his first-ever residency in his native Puerto Rico, it ...
23/09/2025
Think you know Australia's history? Think again.
22 September, 2025
Media releases
The Idea of Australia is an ambitious landmark documentary series ...
23/09/2025
Our propulsion solutions protect key Golden Dome space assets to ensure that both sensor and shooter missile shield satellites are difficult to track, target an...
23/09/2025
The Tactical Operations Center-Light (TOC-L), developed by L3Harris in partnership with Booz Allen, is a key component of the Department of the Air Force's ...
23/09/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
23/09/2025
College Football and NFL Preseason Drive Increases for ABC Affiliates ( 4%), ESP...
23/09/2025
The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 is one of the most versatile compact cameras on the market, perfect for creators who need high-quality footage in a travel-friendly size. ...
23/09/2025
IRVING, Texas Although ABC has announced that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to its late night schedule on Tuesday Sept. 23, Nexstar Media Group, Inc. has iss...
23/09/2025
German-based cinematographer Tim Pfautsch was a uniquely excellent choice to lens the experimental documentary Fassaden (internationally titled Curtains). Narra...
23/09/2025
VisualOn, a global pioneer in multimedia playback solutions, and Axinom, a leading provider of DRM technologies, have partnered with a global communications and...
23/09/2025
Matthews, known for their extensive line of C-Stands and other grip gear, introduces a better solution to help lug equipment from vehicle to set and back. The n...
23/09/2025
In its sixth year, the Awards again received applications from across the world
Rise, the gender diversity network for the media technology industry, today an...
23/09/2025
DHD reports strong interest in its expanding range of digital audio production equipment at the 12-15 September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterd...
23/09/2025
Advanced Systems Group, LLC (ASG), a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, continues to expand its global reach with the appo...
23/09/2025
The DPP, the international network for media and technology, is delighted to announce that nxtedition will be the Headline Sponsor for the DPP Leaders' Brie...
23/09/2025
AMSTERDAM TV Tech has named its Best of Show Awards winners for IBC2025, which wraps up today. Entrants were judged by a panel of industry experts on the criter...
23/09/2025
AB InBev and Netflix have announced a multiyear global marketing partnership that the two companies are calling unprecedented in terms of its global reach and...
23/09/2025
A recent announcement by the Trump administration that it plans to crack down on the roaring costs of prescription drug advertising as part of a push to curb mi...
23/09/2025
Visitors to the 2025 IBC Show were eager to discuss the latest trends and test out new products and services, all with the goals of content monetization and lea...
23/09/2025
ESPN has announced that its coverage of NCAA men's and women's ice hockey on its networks and streaming platforms will total more than 620 games during ...
23/09/2025
The Walt Disney Company has issued a short statement saying that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will return to its standard late night time slot on ABC on Tuesday Sept. 2...
23/09/2025
Graduate Spotlight: Tom s M rquez The educator from San Juan, Puerto Rico, shares how he went from Berklee ABLE Assembly conference attendee to graduate stude...
23/09/2025
Telos Alliance Announces New Inside Sales Role for John Bisset
Search
Cleveland, Ohio (September 23, 2025) - Telos Alliance , trusted global leader in broa...
23/09/2025
Tuesday 23 September 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cookie...
23/09/2025
Tuesday 23 September 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cookie...
23/09/2025
Back to All News
New Danish Series The Asset' Launches on Netflix on October 27
Entertainment
23 September 2025
GlobalDenmark
Link copied to clipboard...
23/09/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 23, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that German broadband operator neu-medianet is making the leap to XGS-PON fiber broa...
23/09/2025
Published in the IABM Journal September 2025 Issue
For decades, Grass Valley ...
23/09/2025
Energy efficiency in large language model inference has improved 100,000x in the...
22/09/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Pixellot's Rob DeSalvo on the Automated-Production Revolution ...
22/09/2025
For NYRA and FOX Sports, Horse Racing Isn't Just HorseplayThe broadcaster and racing association are rejuvenating the sport on TVBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor ...
22/09/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Telemetrics' Michael Cuomo on Joining With EVS, the Role of AI...
22/09/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: LiveLike's Samuel Westberg on Turning Digital Use...
22/09/2025
Making Sense of the Generative AI Landscape: A Primer From AWS and Google CloudGoogle Cloud's Sud Aravamudan, AWS's Paul Devlin explain what you need to...
22/09/2025
The silence came first. In the spring of 2020, as the world locked its doors, the exuberant, continent-spanning pulse of Afrobeats suddenly had nowhere to go. D...
22/09/2025
On November 14, 2023, at London's O2 Arena, Rema made an unforgettable entrance. Stadiumgoers held their collective breath as he rode onto the stage on a bl...
22/09/2025
It's the mid-'90s and the song Allen Avenue can be heard through speakers on the streets of Lagos. This classic by the London-born Nigerian rapper Wei...
22/09/2025
In the stillness of a lockdown caused by a global pandemic, Afrobeats did not stall. It recalibrated. Deprived of dance floors and festival stages, the genre...
College Football and NFL Preseason Drive Increases for ABC Affiliates ( 4%), ESPN ( 25%) and FOX Broadcast Affiliates ( 14%) 
