December Media Revenue: Disney, Netflix & Football Boosts – Nielsen Data

Disney records biggest multi-platform increase thanks to football and Frosty

TBS and TNT both see ratings increases of more than 20% thanks to college football and holiday movies

Amazon stock price rises +12%, Netflix rises +10%… NFL broadcasting rights and original content effects

Hallmark Channel dominates the top 5 cable movie ratings in December

New York – January 27, 2026 – Nielsen’s Media Distributor Index for December 2025 highlighted viewership gains for distributors that aired major sporting events and movies, both factors driving record viewership during the peak holiday season. Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Hallmark, Netflix, and Amazon all recorded notable viewership increases during the month.

Disney ranked first in multi-platform viewership growth and maintained second place. The overall viewership rating rose by 4%, recording a market share of 10.7%, an additional 0.2 percentage point increase. This growth was led by ESPN, which saw a 30% increase in viewership thanks to Monday Night Football, an expanded College Football Playoff schedule, and College Game Day. At the same time, the preform ‘Rudolph, the Red Nose Reindeer’ ‘Frosty, Snowman’ It succeeded in doubling its viewership ratings in November thanks to its solid programming of holiday movies..

Warner Bros. Discovery also benefited from the success of its cable networks, with TBS and TNT up 23% and 24%, respectively. This growth was driven by College Football Playoff coverage and holiday movie viewership, for TBS. take the lead ran . HBO Max also recorded a 10% increase in viewership, primarily driven by the original series It: Welcome To Derry. big bang theory > and This is thanks to the continued popularity of >.

Leading the way for the holiday movie genre’s success was Hallmark Channel, which continued its strong momentum from November, taking the top five movie airings across all cable networks (in that order): , , , Cucumber to the World>.

Christmas Day was the most-streamed day of all time, with 55.1 billion views, according to a December report from The Gauge, according to a Nielsen report. Christmas Day records were led by NFL coverage on Netflix and Prime Video, with both platforms achieving their highest ever share in December. Netflix’s broadcast of the NFL Christmas doubleheader and the success of its all-time streaming original series, Strange Things, catapulted Netflix to third place with a 10% increase in monthly viewing hours. These two successes gave Netflix an additional 0.7 percentage points to its highest ever total share of 9.0%.

Two other retailers had the highest platform share in December: Amazon (4.3% total share) and The Roku Channel (3.0% total share). Amazon will broadcast Thursday Night Football, the highest-rated NFL game ever on Christmas Day, and ‘Fallout’ With the airing of the new season, viewership ratings increased by 12% in December. In particular, The Roku Channel showed steady growth, with the platform increasing by 45% compared to December last year and 190% compared to December 2023.

The viewership contribution of broadcast network affiliates decreased this month compared to November, and all major networks showed a decline. This decline is mainly attributed to the decline in sports broadcasts that attract attention. This is due to the absence of NFL games on Thanksgiving Day, a reduced schedule of broadcast college football games, and the non-broadcast of World Series games. Cable news networks also saw ratings decline this month.

The December 2025 period covers the four weeks from December 1, 2025 to December 28, 2025. Nielsen reports follow a broadcast schedule, with weekly periods beginning every Monday.

Introducing The Gauge™

The Gauge™ is Nielsen’s monthly snapshot of total broadcast, cable and streaming consumption occurring across television screens, giving the industry a holistic view of what viewers are watching. In April 2024, it will reflect total viewership by media distributor across these categories. Media Distributor Gauge The Gauge has been expanded to include: Learn more about The Gauge methodology and frequently asked questions.

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