Every year, Nielsen shares their “Streaming unwrapped” report to uncover the shows, movies and platforms that captured the biggest audience.
Read Also: How are TV audiences measured (Nielsen)
The list is split into two categories, “acquired” for licensed content and “original” for the shows produced by the platform.
Acquired Shows: #1 Suits (57.7B minutes watched or 109,700 years)
Suits is stealing the record established by The Office during the pandemic (see 2020 report) with an impressive total of 57.7B minutes watched! This is most likely the result of the availability on multiple platforms, but it is still imposing.
I’m glad to see the excellent Bluey increasing its reach with +21.1B minutes watched compared to last year, and Cocomelon lost 1.5B.
Friends is also still going strong a thousand years after it was first released, with a watch time almost doubled compared to 2022.
| Program | Originator | Mins viewed (Billions) | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suits | Netflix / Peacock | 57.7 | n/a |
| Bluey | Disney+ | 43.9 | 21.1 |
| NCIS | Netflix / Paramount+ | 39.4 | 38.1 |
| Grey’s Anatomy | Netflix | 38.6 | 26.8 |
| Cocomelon | Netflix | 36.3 | 37.8 |
| The Big Bang Theory | Max | 27.8 | n/a |
| Gilmore Girls | Netflix | 25.2 | 20.8 |
| Friends | Max | 25 | 14.5 |
| Heartland | Hulu / Netflix / Peacock | 22.8 | 17.9 |
| Supernatural | Netflix | 22.8 | 18.8 |
Original shows: #1 Ted Lasso (16.9B minutes or 32,100 years)
I couldn’t find 2022 to compare for most of those shows because they’re originals and tend to be released every other year, 2022 data would be too low to be included in the top 10s.
| Program | Originator | Mins Viewed(B) |
|---|---|---|
| Ted Lasso | Apple TV+ | 16.9 |
| The Night Agent | Netflix | 14.4 |
| Ginny & Georgia | Netflix | 13.8 |
| Virgin River | Netflix | 13.7 |
| Love Is Blind | Netflix | 13.1 |
| Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan | Prime Video | 12.8 |
| Gabby’s Dollhouse | Netflix | 12.8 |
| The Mandalorian | Disney+ | 12.3 |
| Outer Banks | Netflix | 12 |
| The Lincoln Lawyer | Netflix | 11.8 |
Movies: #1 Moana
The interesting take for me is that you must scroll down to the 8th position to find a non-animation movie.
In 2022, Encanto was leading the pack with 27.4B minutes watched! It’s still #2 in 2023 with 20 fewer billion (those numbers are insane…), and Moana gets the first spot with 2 more billion year-over-year.
Super Mario Bros and Elemental are the only movies released in 2023 to make their way to the list.
Read Also: