NBCU News Group’s digital properties reached more than 130 million unique visitors
TODAY All Day launched a brand new slate of original, talent-led programming, including two shoppable streaming shows
July 19, 2021 – NBCU News Group (NBC News, TODAY, MSNBC and CNBC) brought in more than 130 million unique visitors in June, ranking as the #1 news organization in the U.S., beating CNN, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Times and Washington Post, as well as beating this group in total video minutes watched and total video starts in the month of May, with 380 million views and 1.7 billion minutes watched.
Today marks Stay Tuned’s 4-year anniversary. More than 90% of Stay Tuned’s audience is under the age of 35 and the majority of viewers watch at least three times per week. Since launch, Stay Tuned has published nearly 2,500 episodes and the show has more than 10.5 million subscribers, with each episode averaging nearly 1 million unique viewers. In June, Stay Tuned saw its largest month audience since the election, growing +6% vs. the prior year.
In addition, MSNBC, which continues to rank in the top five in unique visitors and as the #1 political news brand for video views, video viewers and time spent (May, 2021), just celebrated its 25th anniversary. MSNBC Daily, MSNBC.com’s new commentary section, has reached record-setting traffic in May and June, publishing more than 600 pieces of content since launch.
CNBC Digital, which continues to rank in the top three business news properties for both unique visitors and video views (May, 2021), launched a new video series called “Did It Work?,” exploring policies and promises of years past. The first episode focused on The War On Drugs, an ongoing campaign that has reshaped American politics, society and the economy over the last 50 years.
NBCU News Group’s streaming services, NBC News NOW and TODAY All Day, had top months, with NBC News NOW seeing nearly 38 million video views and 13 million hours watched, up nearly +200% year-to-date in 2021 over 2020 (same time frame). It was the streaming platform’s best June ever, with viewers watching for an average of 50 minutes at a time on OTT platforms.
TODAY All Day, with the launch of new original programming featuring TODAY’s premiere talent, saw their best month on record.
NBC News NOW produced a streaming special – “TransAmerica,” hosted by Joe Fryer, examining issues facing the transgender community – and TODAY All Day produced their fifth Rokerthon, with Al Roker breaking another world record for most people in an online weather reporting video relay.
June was the News Group’s second largest listener month on record, ranking in the top five of all podcast publishers, with more than 47 million downloads across all podcasts and showcasts, up +9% versus June 2020.
In June, TODAY released a full audio showcast of the morning show program – from the first hour, packed with the day’s top news stories to TODAY with Hoda and Jenna full of friendship, uplift and laughs. [LINK]
NBC News continues to see year-over-year growth in podcast downloads, up +12% versus June 2020. The Dateline podcast had one of its top three months ever and has reached more than 400M downloads since its launch. [LINK]
NBCU News Group’s commerce business continues to shatter records, tripling revenue year-over-year. Shop TODAY, Select and NBC News reached all-time highs in affiliate revenue in the month of June. More than 8 million consumers visited NBCU News Group commerce products in June 2021, an increase of 40% year over year.
Shop TODAY had its strongest month since December 2020 with page views up +33% year-over-year.
As part of the launch of a new slate of programming on TODAY All Day, NBC News released two new shoppable streaming shows: the weekly Shop All Day program, offering viewers must-have finds and the hottest items for everyday needs, and the monthly Shop TODAY with Jill Martin show, bringing viewers a new, ultimate shopping experience, featuring must-have products, a seamless, first-of-its kind shopping experience and interviews with special celebrity guests each week.
*Sources: Comscore Media Metrix (June 2021) & Comscore Video Metrix (May 2021), U.S. desktop internet population 2+ and mobile internet population 13+ years old, Custom-Defined List, Based on NBCU News entity compared to a custom list of brand competitors that are also in the News/Information Category. Adobe Analytics & Partner Dashboards, Cross-Platform Global Data, June 2021. Podtrac, Total Mobile and Desktop US Audience and Global Downloads, June 2021.
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For more information, contact:
Emily Passer
NBC News Digital
Emily.Passer@nbcuni.com
