Warner Bros. Discovery TV Viewership Grew 3% in March Thanks to NCAA and ‘The White Lotus,’ Nielsen Says

March was a good month for Warner Bros. Discovery. During that time, the company saw the largest monthly viewership increase among media distributors, according to Nielsen’s latest Gauge report. Warner Bros. Discovery saw a 3% growth in television viewing compared to February.

This growth was largely due to March Madness coverage on TBS, TNT and truTV. Max, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming vertical, also had a notable month. It saw a 6% increase in viewership, the largest month-over-month increase among streaming services. Along with March Madness, which brought in younger consumers, new episodes of “The White Lotus” and “The Pitt” contributed to this growth. Mike White’s vacation thriller was Nielsen’s No. 4 most-streamed title in March, accounting for 4.5 billion viewing minutes. As for the Noah Wyle-led “The Pitt,” that medical drama generated 2.3 billion viewing minutes and ranked on Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 for the first time during the week of March 17. Even with those numbers, Warner Bros. Discovery was still seventh on Nielsen’s rankings of media distributors, only counting for 6.7% of overall television viewership.

For the second month in a row, YouTube was at the top of Nielsen’s Gauge list. The behemoth captured 12% of overall TV viewing in March, breaking its own previous record of 11.6%. YouTube set that previous record in February.

The Walt Disney Company came in second place on the Gauge report, gaining half a share point over its February numbers and accounting for 10.5% of total TV viewing time in March. The company’s simulcast of The Oscars across ABC and Hulu contributed to the lift as the event brought in 20.3 million viewers. “American Idol” and “ABC World News Tonight” also contributed.

And third place for the month went to Paramount, a jump from its fifth place ranking in February. Paramount’s viewership total jumped by 0.3 points and accounted for an overall 8.5% share of television. This rise was also due to March Madness paired with a crop of strong CBS dramas. During the spring month, “Tracker” drew 10.7 million viewers, and “Matlock” drew 9.2 million viewers.

NBCUniversal then came in fourth place with 8% of the overall share of viewership despite seeing a 0.1 decline compared to February. Finally, The Roku Channel set a platform record, accounting for 2.2% of television. Regardless, the record did not change the channel’s ranking on Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge.

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