Netflix rolls, sweeping streaming ratings again with help from 'Virgin River'
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The week in streaming attention was much the same as last week - and the overall tone of streaming viewing started to look more like last year again, with Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) dominating overall streaming eyeballs even as rivals start to catch up on subscribers.
Just like before, the overall program list was topped by Netflix's Virgin River (2.397B minutes streamed), followed by Stranger Things (1.835B minutes) and movie The Gray Man (1.362B minutes) in Nielsen's most recent weekly streaming ratings (for July 25-31). The fact that Stranger Things is piling up seasons doesn't hurt; Nielsen notes that since the release of season 4, the hit title has streamed more than 44B minutes to viewers.
But like the old days, Netflix filled out the rest of the top 10 programs as well: Keep Breathing (730M minutes); CoComelon (696M minutes); Grey's Anatomy (656M minutes); NCIS (649M minutes); The Most Hated Man on the Internet (546M minutes); Purple Hearts (508M minutes); and Sing 2 (471M minutes).
Turning to sub-charts, the original-series list was also dominated by Netflix, which led by Virgin River, Stranger Things, Keep Breathing, The Most Hated Man on the Internet, and Blown Away (443M minutes). Amazon Prime Video (NASDAQ:AMZN) landed at No. 6 with a bit of a drop-off for The Terminal List (427M minutes), and Hulu (NYSE:DIS) (CMCSA) edged onto the chart at No. 10 with Only Murders in the Building (391M minutes with its second season in progress).
It's the acquired-series list that used to be 10 out of 10 Netflix titles due to sheer licensing power, and which is making room for more rivals these days. Netflix's (NFLX) steady children's standby CoComelon led that list, followed by its Grey's Anatomy, NCIS and the show it shares with Hulu, Alone (468M minutes).
HBO Max (NASDAQ:WBD), though, has a steady top 10 resident with The Big Bang Theory, which streamed 392M minutes (good enough for fifth-best). And burgeoning interest in the then-upcoming premiere of Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon spurred HBO's original GoT series to No. 7 on acquired series, streaming 368M minutes for the week. (As an HBO show that's not exclusive to HBO Max, it's not considered a "Max Original.")
The movies list was a different matter, where Netflix and Disney+ (DIS) split the top 10. Netflix (NFLX) had five of the top six, with The Gray Man (1.362B minutes), Purple Hearts (508M minutes), Sing 2 (471M minutes) and The Sea Beast (321M minutes) ahead of Disney's (DIS) Encanto (240M minutes) - which came in just ahead of Netflix's (NFLX) Recurrence (223M minutes).
The rest of that list was Disney+ films: Moana (194M minutes), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (161M minutes), Turning Red (142M minutes) and Zombies 3 (139M minutes).
(Nielsen streaming ratings now incorporate viewing from six major streamers: Amazon Prime Video (AMZN), Apple TV+ (AAPL), Disney+ (DIS), HBO Max (WBD), Hulu (DIS) (CMCSA), and Netflix (NFLX).)
Netflix (NFLX) is making weekend news with the report that it's considering pricing its upcoming advertising-supported service level at $7-$9 per month.