“Wednesday” was the most-streamed program for the fourth time in the four weeks it has been available, moving into second place on the all-time list, according to figures released Thursday by Nielsen.
Viewers spent 2.157 billion minutes the week of Dec. 12-18 watching the eight episodes of Netflix’s supernatural mystery charting Wednesday Addams’ (Jenna Ortega) years at Nevermore Academy, 35.3% less than the 3.335 billion minutes watched the previous week.
“Wednesday” accumulated 16.8 billion viewing minutes in its first four weeks of availability, the second-highest four-week total for a streaming program behind “Stranger Things,” which generated 19.5 billion minutes between May 23 and June 19, coinciding with Netflix’s release of the first seven episodes of its fourth season May 27.
Nielsen has released weekly streaming figures since January 2020.
The release of the final three episodes of “Harry & Meghan” lifted Netflix’s six-part documentary series two spots to fourth with 1.69 billion minutes watched, 33.6% more than the 1.265 billion minutes streamed the previous week when the first three episodes were available for four days.
“The Recruit” was among three programs in the latest top 10 not in the previous week’s, placing fifth with 925 million minutes watched in the first three days of release of the eight-episode Netflix series about a young CIA lawyer (Noah Centineo) in his first week in the job.
The 2013 thriller film “Prisoners” was seventh with 857 million minutes watched in its first full week of release, 162.9% more than the 326 million minutes the previous week when it was available for two days on Netflix.
“Criminal Minds” was in the top 10 for the first time since the week of June 20-26, tying for ninth with 672 million minutes watched of the 328 episodes of the 2005-20 CBS police procedural on Hulu, 22% more than the 551 million minutes watched of the 327 episodes available the previous week.
The Brad Pitt-starring action comedy film “Bullet Train” dropped out of the top 10 after two weeks, while the Paramount Network neo-Western “Yellowstone” and 2000-07 WB/CW dramedy “Gilmore Girls” both dropped out after one week.
“Bullet Train and “Gilmore Girls” both stream on Netflix while “Yellowstone” streams on Peacock.
There were seven Netflix series or movies in the top 10, two programs from HBO Max and one from Hulu. Nielsen also announces streaming viewership of Apple TV+, Disney+ and Prime Video programming.
The top 10 consisted of five acquired series, four original streaming series and one movie. Nielsen considers “The White Lotus” an acquired program because it also airs on HBO.
The top 10 programs were “Wednesday”; “Harry & Meghan”; “CoComelon”; “NCIS”; “The Recruit”; “The White Lotus”; “Prisoners”; “Friends”; “Criminal Minds”; and “Firefly Lane.”
The figures reflect only television set viewing, including such television-connected devices as Roku and Apple TV. Mobile-only viewing is not included in Nielsen’s streaming measurement systems.
While Nielsen releases weekly prime-time broadcast and cable ratings two days after the end of the week, except for holidays, viewership figures for streaming services are not released until 25 days after the end of the week because it takes more time to completely capture assets to report and aggregate streaming viewing, according to Nielsen.
Nielsen has announced it plans to shorten the release window for the viewership figures from streaming programming in the coming months.
