Views on Versant, Streaming
Underneath the pop we’re seeing the shares of Versant ($VSNT) we’re seeing things that confirm a few of our thoughts over at the Pro Portfolio.
First is the continued shift to digital content consumption, which has been highlighted rather nicely in the monthly data published in Nielsen’s The Gauge. While Cable commanded 24.5% of the market back in April 2025, as of February of this year that fell to 20.0%. Where did it go? Streaming, which accounted for 48.0% of TV viewing as of February 2026.
The top three platforms?
Google’s ($GOOGL) YouTube with 12.7% of total U.S. TV viewing
Netflix ($NFLX) at 8.4%
Disney ($DIS) gets the bronze with 5.0%.
Getting back to Versant, linear distribution revenue for its pay TV networks — which include CNBC, MS NOW and the Golf Channel as well as USA, E!, Syfy and Oxygen — was down roughly 7%.
Because advertisers look to spend where consumer eyeballs are, it’s not surprising to see Versant’s advertising revenue fell 5% year over year.
Position: The Pro Portfolio is long GOOGL, NFLX.
