March 2025 turned out to be a banner month for TV and streaming platforms alike, with sports-driven excitement and binge-worthy content pushing viewership numbers upward. According to Nielsen’s latest Media Distributor Gauge, audiences leaned heavily into both traditional broadcasts and digital platforms throughout the month.
March Madness Pushed WBD to the Max
No platform made a bigger splash in March than Warner Bros. Discovery. Riding high on the wave of NCAA March Madness, the company saw a 3% jump in overall viewing time compared to February. The tournament’s broadcast across TBS, TNT, and truTV fueled this rise, and the accessibility on Max, WBD’s streaming service, is what really resonated with younger viewers.
Max itself notched a 6% growth in usage, making it the fastest-growing streaming platform of the month. A good portion of that momentum came from buzzy titles like The White Lotus, which racked up an impressive 4.5 billion minutes watched. The series was the fourth most-streamed show of the month. Meanwhile, Max’s original drama The Pitt was a major breakthrough, pulling in 2.3 billion minutes and cracking Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 for the first time during the week of March 17.
YouTube Tops the Charts Again, Disney & Paramount Follow
YouTube continued its reign as the most-watched individual platform, climbing to a record-setting 12% of all television viewing. For two months straight, YouTube topped the chart, building on its previous high of 11.6% set in February. YouTube led the way with other media giants, notably Disney and Paramount, following.
Disney boosted its share of TV viewership to 10.5%, thanks in part to consistent programming across its portfolio. Disney’s streaming portfolio of Hulu + Live TV, Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ aired some of the biggest shows and events during the month, including American Idol, ABC World News Tonight, Women’s March Madness, and The Oscars. Across Hulu and the ABC network, Disney’s broadcast of The Oscars brought in 20.3 million viewers.
Paramount, meanwhile, made the jump from fifth to third among media distributors, from just a month prior. That jump was fueled by CBS’s coverage of March Madness and popular scripted content like Tracker and Matlock. The former dominated primetime, with several episodes ranking among the ten most-watched broadcast shows of the month. Additionally, March Madness and the scripted programming were available to stream on Paramount+.
NBC’s Decline, Yet Streaming Continues Its Rise
NBCUniversal ranked fourth in the distributor rankings for March. The company jumped from sixth place in February, but saw a 0.1 decline in share this past month. In March, its streaming service, Peacock, was home to WWE Elimination Chamber, Yellowstone, Season 5 Part 2, The Traitors Season 3 finale, and much more.
Streaming as a whole expanded its slice of the TV viewing pie to a record-setting 43.8%, even as total television usage dropped by 6% from February. The trend signals a clear shift in viewer habits, and audiences are turning to streaming platforms more frequently, even during months traditionally dominated by live sports and network TV.
March 2025 underscored the growing dominance of hybrid content strategies, where live events and original streaming content work hand-in-hand to drive viewership. WBD’s strategic use of March Madness across both cable and digital channels paid off in a big way, showing just how influential the right mix of content can be in today’s fast-evolving media landscape.
Next month, The Gauge will examine how much growth these platforms will experience throughout April. So far this month, the NHL and NBA playoffs, The Masters, the NCAA College Basketball National Championship Games, and WWE Wrestlemania are just a few notable live events viewers have streamed. Additionally, shows such as Andor, The Rehearsal, and The Handmaid’s Tale could bring in big ratings.
