The Diddy Trial: Who’s Dominating the News Boxes as the Case Unfolds?
8. May 2025As the federal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs unfolds in Manhattan, the media landscape is abuzz with coverage of the proceedings. Combs faces serious charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering, stemming from allegations that span two decades. The trial, which commenced with jury selection on May 5, 2025, has garnered significant attention, with opening statements scheduled for May 12.
Given the intense public interest and the gravity of the charges, it’s crucial for publishers to understand how media coverage is performing, particularly in the digital sphere. Analyzing keyword rankings in US mobile News Boxes from April 8 to May 8, 2025, with the help of the Trisolute News Dashboard, offers insights into which terms are driving visibility and which outlets are leading the conversation.
In this analysis we’ll take a closer look at which keywords ranked in the mobile News Boxes during the month leading up to the trial and which publishers were able to achieve the highest visibility.
Most-ranked keywords
This list contains the keywords that generated the most mobile rankings in US mobile News Boxes from April 8 to March 8 and fit the Diddy trial in terms of content. The keywords are sorted in descending order according to their number of rankings. The ranking values, which are mentioned alongside the keywords, represent the individual rankings for as long as the keyword was active in Google News or Google Trends.
Interesting insights
In total, the 16 keywords that were relevant to the topic added up to 6,803 rankings. The keywords ‘diddy trial’ (2,296 rankings), ‘diddy’ (1,781 rankings), and ‘sean diddy combs’ (1,496 rankings) dominate the dataset by far. While keywords such as ‘diddy sex trafficking trial’ (242 rankings) and ‘sean diddy combs sex trafficking trial’ (56 keywords) focus on the specific nature of the charges, they gained a lot less rankings than the top three more general keywords. Terms like ‘diddy delay’ (50 rankings), ‘diddy judge’ (40 rankings), ‘diddy lawyers’ (32), and ‘diddy mark geragos’ (26 rankings) highlight a media focus on the legal process and the individuals involved, though these terms did also not nearly reach numbers as high as the top three. The presence of keywords such as ‘diddy prosecutors’ (22 rankings) and ‘diddy jury’ (6 rankings) indicates that aspects of jury selection and the prosecution’s approach are also areas of media interest. The dataset also includes multiple phrasings of similar concepts, such as ‘trial sean diddy combs’ (120 rankings), ‘trial diddy’ (79 rankings), and ‘combs trial’ (56 rankings). In general it appears that the term “diddy” is a major driver of traffic when it comes to the topic, whereas only “combs” or variations like “p diddy” reached small ranking numbers or did not rank at all.
Based on those keywords, let’s now have a look at which publishers gained the most visibility from April 8 to March 8:
Top 5 publishers and platforms on the trial of Sean Diddy Combs
Top 5 US publishers and platforms on the trial of Sean Diddy Combs from April 8 to May 8, 2025
- USA Today
USA Today secured the top spot in terms of visibility across the examined News Box coverage, achieving 13.43% overall. The publisher’s performance was shaped by two major peaks—first on May 1 (20.99%), then a dramatic surge on May 8 (39.44%), the highest single-day visibility across all outlets. On these days, the keywords ‘sean diddy combs trial’ (21 rankings) and ‘sean diddy combs’ (40 rankings) were the most ranked, respectively. In total, USA Today generated 722 keyword rankings, with ‘diddy trial’ (255 rankings) as the top keyword, accounting for 11% of all rankings for that term. Its most visible article was “Mike Myers. Kid Cudi. Dawn Richard. What do these names have to do with the Diddy trial?“. - NBC News
NBC News followed with 11.30% of total visibility, supported by a series of spikes on April 26, April 28, and May 4. The strongest day was April 28, when the publisher reached 24.84% visibility—its highest in the period—driven by the keyword ‘sean diddy combs trial’ (62 rankings). Over the full time frame, NBC News earned 661 keyword rankings, with ‘diddy trial’ (299 rankings) as the leading keyword, accounting for 13% of its total rankings. The most visible article was “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs tells judge, ‘I’m a little nervous,’ on first day of jury selection in his sex-trafficking trial“. - NY Post
With 11.04% visibility, the New York Post landed just behind NBC News. The publisher experienced a dramatic visibility spike on May 5, reaching 32.92%—one of the highest single-day values in the analysis. On that day, the keywords ‘diddy’ (100 rankings) and ‘diddy trial’ (95 rankings) dominated. Across the month, NY Post recorded 566 total keyword rankings, with ‘diddy’ leading at 261 appearances (15% of all rankings for that keyword). The most visible article was “Diddy makes sobering admission about his emotions as jury selection in bombshell NYC sex trafficking trial kicks off“. - YouTube
YouTube stood out as the only non-publisher in the top 5 and accounted for 10.55% visibility. While it showed no sharp daily peaks, visibility rose steadily from April 26 onward, indicating continuous content output and engagement. YouTube also amassed the most keyword rankings overall (1,327), led by ‘diddy trial’ (536 rankings, 32% of all rankings for that keyword), followed by ‘diddy’ (383 rankings) and ‘sean diddy combs’ (286 rankings). The most visible content was BBC World’s video titled “Diddy’s ‘swinger’ defence, plus jury selection begins – Diddy on Trial podcast, BBC World Service“. - ABC News
ABC News rounded out the top 5 with 6.10% of total visibility. The publisher remained quiet until early May, when it posted back-to-back surges on May 2 (29.58%) and May 3 (28.88%). These spikes were fueled by a combination of trial-specific keywords, including ‘trial sean diddy combs’ (15 rankings on May 2), ‘sean diddy combs’ (14 rankings on May 2), and ‘diddy trial’ (14 rankings on May 2, 84 rankings on May 3). Overall, ABC News produced 252 keyword rankings, with ‘diddy trial’ as the top term (115 rankings), making up 5% of the total visibility for that keyword. The outlet’s most visible article was “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs rejects plea deal ahead of sex trafficking trial“.
Most relevant insights for news publishers
The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs is still in its early stages, with jury selection just completed and opening statements set to begin on May 12. As such, the media coverage and the competition for visibility in Google’s mobile News Boxes is far from over. Looking at the past month of reporting, a few clear patterns have emerged that offer guidance for publishers hoping to stay relevant as the trial unfolds.
Most notably, general and easily recognizable keywords like ‘diddy trial,’ ‘diddy,’ and ‘sean diddy combs’ drove the vast majority of rankings. These broad terms outperformed more detailed keyword variations related to the charges or legal personnel, suggesting that clarity and name recognition in headlines remain essential for ranking well. Peaks in publisher visibility aligned closely with major procedural milestones, such as jury selection or public statements in court, highlighting the importance of timely, event-based reporting.
Another key takeaway is that visibility was distributed across several outlets rather than dominated by a single player. This indicates that there is still ample opportunity for other publishers to break into the News Boxes, particularly as coverage shifts from pre-trial developments to courtroom proceedings and beyond. Finally, the presence of YouTube as one of the top five platforms demonstrates the growing impact of video content and the importance of format diversification.
With the trial continuing to develop, these insights offer publishers a valuable framework for shaping their coverage in the days and weeks ahead.
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