Holiday Films, Football Drive Gains for December Media Distributor Gauge

Key sporting events and holiday films provided viewership lifts for Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Hallmark, Netflix and Amazon in Nielsen’s December 2025 Media Distributor Gauge.

Disney captured the highest multiplatform increase, up 4 percent in overall viewing for a total share of 10.7 percent. Growth was fueled by ESPN, which recorded a 30 percent viewership increase driven by Monday Night Football, an expanded College Football Playoffs schedule and College Gameday. Simultaneously, Freeform doubled its November viewing, driven by holiday films such as Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty The Snowman.

Warner Bros. Discovery, meanwhile, took 5.4 percent of total viewing, with TBS and TNT up 23 and 24 percent, respectively, driven by College Football Playoff coverage and holiday movie viewership. HBO Max also saw a 10 percent increase, propelled by It: Welcome to Derry and the continued popularity of The Big Bang Theory and Friends.

The Hallmark Channel led the holiday movie genre’s success, maintaining strong momentum from November and securing the top five movie telecasts across cable distributors with She’s Making a List, Single on the 25th, A Suite Holiday Romance, A Make or Break Holiday and Oy to the World.

Netflix took a record share of total viewing in December with 9 percent, driven by its coverage of the NFL Christmas Day doubleheader and Stranger Things. Amazon and The Roku Channel also each achieved platform-best shares in December, taking 4.3 percent and 3 percent, respectively.