Google’s YouTube might be a competitive force to traditional media, including in the living room, but that doesn’t mean legacy players are ignoring or strictly trying to beat back the video platform’s might.
Instead, many are turning to YouTube as a place to reach and engage broader (and often younger) audiences and promote their premium sports highlights, TV and film entertainment clips and trailers, and other content like kids and news programming
With that in mind, we’re excited to bring StreamTV Insiders July’s installment of our exclusive monthly ranker, courtesy of Tubular Labs, that tracks the top 10 U.S. traditional media channels on YouTube each month based on unique domestic viewers. “Traditional media” includes TV networks, movie studios, programs and network-owned streaming services.
Check out June’s Top 10 here and read below to learn who took the crown for attracting audiences on YouTube in July and see the full chart.
Last month, the Men’s FIFA World Cup continued to score for Fox with YouTube audiences. Viewership of sports highlights from the soccer tournament helped propel the Fox Sports YouTube channel up from its No. 8 position in June to No. 2 in July’s ranking.
Increased interest around World Cup highlights helped the Fox Sports YouTube channel generate 35.6 million unique U.S. viewers last month, representing a 46% month-over-month increase.
Fox owns the domestic TV rights to the Men’s FIFA World Cup and likely wants to make the most of them. The cost for scarce sports rights has continued to rise but robust new monetization mechanisms and revenue streams that help recoup rights investments on par with what pay TV historically delivered have yet to fully materialize.
When it comes to maximizing sports IP and leveraging creators and digital, Altman Solon’s Global Sports Survey suggested optimism with 51% of sports industry experts expecting demand for sports content to rise amid a booming genAI-accelerated creator economy, as the scarcity and relevance of sports IP stands out even more.
The report, focused on unlocking value of sports IP, noted that digital creators are emerging as key licensing partners for top-of-funnel sports distribution.
However, while consumers surveyed continued to reflect a robust willingness to pay for live sports content, that willingness to shell out dropped 30-40% when it comes to sports highlights and fan-generated content.
Monetization might not currently be the main play for traditional media players on YouTube, but the Google-owned video platform still represents a potential avenue for discovery, to reach broader and younger audiences, drum up interest and social buzz, and help deepen engagement for existing fans, including for sports.
As Altman Solon stated in its report, “With limited direct monetization, [sports] content distributed via creator and digital platforms primarily delivers exposure and marketing value.”
And for Fox Sports the latest growth on YouTube marks continued moment, as World Cup highlights shared on YouTube throughout June had helped drive a whopping 594% month-over-month increase for the channel in last month’s ranking, when it attracted 24.4 million viewers but still trailed behind ESPN.
In July, ESPN saw YouTube channel viewership decline 20% month-over-month to 20.4 million – dropping three spots from June to round out the Top 10.
Disney kids content remains king in July, Universal makes Odyssey push
Disney, meanwhile, once again clinched the top spot with its children’s-focused Disney Junior YouTube Channel. Disney Junior gained 19% more unique U.S. viewers vs. June for a total of 47.6 million.
Disney shows that YouTube isn’t just a home for short-form or highlights and clips from traditional media, as the No. 1 ranking was boosted in part thanks to soccer-related Mickey content and new full episodes of Spidey and His Amazing Friends.
After sweeping the podium in June, two other Disney-owned YouTube channels dropped in the ranking, with Disney+ at No. 4 (down 19% month-over-month) and flagship Disney dropping to No. 8 despite an 18% month-over-month gain in unique viewers.
NBCUniversal, Peacock tap into YouTube under multi-year pact
New to the ranking this month was NBCU’s Universal channel on YouTube at No. 6. The channel saw unique U.S. viewers jump 13% as the studio leaned into hyping up The Odyssey, an action fantasy film by Christopher Nolan that debuted in theaters July 17.
Per Tubular, over 40% of Universal’s YouTube channel uploads in July were about the film.
And news programming from traditional media continued to attract audiences on YouTube last month, led by ABC News in the No. 3 spot. ABC News unique viewers climbed by 9% vs June as the channel hit a three-year high in monthly YouTube uploads (1,642), according to Tubular.
Three other news channels made it into the top 10, but all experienced month-over-month declines, albeit some small, including Fox News (down 1%), NBC News (down 12%) and CNN (down 1%).
See the full top 10 below and be sure to check back next month to see which networks, studios and streaming services from traditional media got the most audience love on YouTube in August.
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