NBC News NOW Marks Third Consecutive Record Quarter
NBCU News Group Reaches Best Listener Quarter on Record for Podcasts
NBCU News Group Leads All News Brands on Emerging Platforms
Oct. 17, 2022 – NBCU News Group (NBC News, TODAY, MSNBC and CNBC) ranks as the #1 news organization in the US for Q3 2022, beating all competition. The News Group saw a monthly average of 129 million unique visitors in Q3, ranking as #1 for the sixth consecutive quarter.
NBCU News Group also saw 133 million unique visitors in September, ranking as the #1 news organization in the US, and beating ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Times and Washington Post. NBCU News Group has ranked #1 for 17 months since becoming a public-facing entity in April 2021 as the leading news brand. NBCU News Group was #1 in total video minutes watched, total video starts and total video viewers in the month of August, holding that #1 spot for 16 months in a row (17 months in a row for minutes watched, since becoming a public-facing entity).
CNBC Digital recorded 62 million unique visitors in the month of September and served as the #1 non-portal brand in Business News for unique visitors for the month as well as Q3 2022. CNBC Digital is the #1 brand in Business News video time spent, driving one billion total video minutes in August, and remains the #1 non-portal brand in Business News video with 13 million average monthly unique video viewers in 2022. September marked five consecutive months of month-over-month growth for CNBC Digital video starts. Additionally, CNBC Make It had its second highest traffic quarter on record, with strength from professional success stories and side hustles.
NBCNews.com reached 86 million unique visitors in September with growth of 10% month-over-month to the strongest monthly audience levels in six months and ranked ahead of competitors such as ABC News, CBS News, Fox News and Washington Post. Breaking news coverage in September drove increased traffic levels and ranks among the five largest audience days this year with lifts of 70% vs. the daily average. In Q3, NBCNews.com reached an average of 80 million monthly unique visitors. Time spent with video on average this quarter to-date is up nearly 25% versus the same quarter last year and has been up for the last six straight months year-over-year.
In Q3, MSNBC Digital text content which includes MSNBC Daily, The Reidout Blog, Maddow Blog and Know Your Value, drove record levels, +118% versus the same quarter last year. MSNBC Digital saw over 186 million average monthly video views, pacing as the second strongest quarter on record. MSNBC Digital grew by 56% versus the prior year and delivered record levels of video minutes this quarter up over 350% versus the prior year. For the sixth consecutive quarter MSNBC continues to surpass CNN.com in video engagement (minutes per viewer). In August, MSNBC saw more video engagement than any other month on record and delivered the strongest monthly video views since early 2021.
TODAY Digital averaged 42 million monthly unique visitors in Q3 and continued to rank as the third largest individual publisher among leading lifestyle and entertainment brands. TODAY published more content in Q3 than any other quarter on record, up 28% versus the same quarter last year. TODAY Digital is also seeing strong engagement with the Start TODAY Walking Challenge that offers support, advice and community for users as they work toward their goals. The month-long walking challenges are delivered through the Start TODAY email newsletter that’s grown in subscribers by 32% month-over-month and a highly engaged Facebook group. In Q3 to-date, TODAY Digital also ranked among the top three leading lifestyle and entertainment brands across key video metrics.
NBCU News Group’s streaming services, NBC News NOW and TODAY All Day, had top quarters, with NBC News NOW up +79% versus Q3 2021.
In Q3, NBC News NOW posted its third straight record quarter for monthly hours watched. NBC News NOW aired special breaking news coverage in Q3, with hours viewed up more than +100% versus the daily average during those days. Two of the days were among NOW’s top five days this year.
In September, NBC News NOW launched NBC News Daily, a daily news program simulcasting across linear on NBC and streaming on NBC News NOW. Morgan Radford and Vicky Nguyen anchor the 12pm-2pm ET hours on NBC News NOW, while Kate Snow and Aaron Gilchrist anchor the 2pm-4pm ET hours on NBC News NOW.
NBC News NOW aired multiple new editions of the Meet the Press: Election Night Special in Q3, hosted by Chuck Todd and Kristen Welker, leading up to the 2022 midterm elections.
TODAY All Day had its strongest month ever in September, up by over +108% vs. the same month last year. The past ten months have been the lifestyle streaming network’s strongest months to-date after launching in the summer of 2020. Q3 2022 also ranks as TODAY All Day’s second best quarter on record.
NBCU News Group continues to rank in the top five of all podcast publishers in the U.S. in Q3 2022. It was the News Group’s best listener quarter on record, with listenership up +27% versus Q3 2021. Plus, the News Group delivered a record 65 million monthly global podcast downloads in Q3, up +25% versus the prior year. September 2022 marked the 13th straight month with more than 50 million downloads.
NBC News reached a record number of downloads in Q3, its fifth straight quarterly record. Showcasts Meet the Press, Nightly News and Dateline helped fuel growth, along with original podcasts like The Chuck ToddCast.
In Q3, Dateline launched multiple hit podcasts, including Internal Affairs and Missing in America. The podcasts both hit #1 on the Apple Podcast charts following their release.
CNBC had its second best quarter ever, seeing lifts of +52% versus the prior year. Multiple CNBC podcasts hit download records, including TechCheck, Power Lunch, Closing Bell and Options Action.
NBCU News Group leads all other news brands across younger emerging platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. On TikTok, NBC News and MSNBC are up more than 100% in followers versus the end of 2021. NBC News has seen over 120 million views on TikTok throughout 2022, 6x what it drove in the prior year. MSNBC Digital saw an average of 20 million views monthly, up 10x what it delivered in 2021. TODAY Digital with 18 million monthly views is up over 300% versus 2021.
September was a top month in 2022 for NBC Stay Tuned, reaching nearly 12 million monthly unique visitors across platforms with the strongest levels in six months and seeing over five million daily unique visitors during breaking news coverage, which was the largest daily audience in over a year. Stay Tuned’s views on TikTok have also grown significantly, averaging over 22 million monthly views, 15x greater than the 2021 monthly average.
CNBC posted both year-over-year and month-over-month gains on YouTube and CNBC Make It surpassed one million subscribers on the platform in the third quarter. CNBC on TikTok had its best month in September and video views reached the highest levels on record across accounts in Q3.
Sources: Comscore Media Metrix® , April 2021 – September 2022, U.S. & Comscore Video Metrix®, April 2021 – August 2022, 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. Leading Lifestyle & Entertainment brands based on Custom-Defined List that includes top individual publishers within Lifestyle and Entertainment Category. Adobe Analytics & Partner Dashboards, Cross-Platform Global Data, September 2022. Podtrac, Total Mobile and Desktop US Audience and Global Downloads, September 2022. ListenFirst Media, September 2022. Snapchat Analytics Portal, September 2022.
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For more information, contact:
Claudia Meyer-Samargia
NBC News Digital
Claudia.MeyerSamargia@nbcuni.com
