Netflix stacks up billion-minute shows in streaming ratings
Justin Sullivan

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) flexed its muscle in overall streaming viewing, pulling off a rare feat with a deep bench of billion-minute shows that weren't short on original content.
The streaming leader logged five programs that streamed more than 1B minutes each in Nielsen's most recently weekly streaming ratings (for Oct. 24-30), and nine of the top 10 overall.
Since the start of 2020, only 14 measurement weeks have had five billion-minute programs - but most of those weeks held shows from multiple streamers, and in this week, Netflix managed that feat alone, and with original programming.
The Watcher shed 54% of its streaming time but still repeated atop the list with 1.234B minutes streamed. It was just ahead of Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (1.12B minutes), From Scratch (1.023B minutes), reality dating show Love is Blind (1.013B minutes), and film The Good Nurse (1.008B minutes).
Only one rival, HBO Max (NASDAQ:WBD), put a show in the overall top 10: rounding out that list was No. 6, CoComelon (NFLX), 804M minutes; No. 7, The Blacklist (NFLX), 735M minutes; No. 8, House of the Dragon (WBD), 705M minutes; No. 9, NCIS (NFLX), 695M minutes; and No. 10, Grey's Anatomy (NFLX), 620M minutes.
The original-series chart also showed Netflix's now-deep library of its own content, with the company taking all but two spots. The top four series also made the overall top 10 (The Watcher, Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, From Scratch and Love is Blind), followed by two more Netflix (NFLX) titles - Great British Baking Show (508M minutes) and Unsolved Mysteries (471M minutes). Hulu (NYSE:DIS) (NASDAQ:CMCSA) appears next with The Handmaid's Tale (404M minutes), and Disney+ with Andor (385M minutes).
The acquired-series list has shown some franchise buildup for Netflix rivals. Netflix's (NFLX) CoComelon and The Blacklist topped that chart, but HBO Max (WBD) showed up with House of the Dragon at No. 3, and Friends at No. 9 (493M minutes) and The Big Bang Theory at No. 10 (456M minutes).
The movies list also had some room for competitors. Netflix topped that chart as well, with The Good Nurse and The School for Good and Evil (596M minutes). But Disney+ (DIS) landed Hocus Pocus 2 at No. 3 (429M minutes); The Nightmare Before Christmas at No. 5 (266M minutes); and the original Hocus Pocus at No. 7 (222M minutes). Leading up to Halloween, HBO Max (WBD) placed word-of-mouth horror hit Barbarian at No. 6 with 247M minutes.
(Nielsen streaming ratings now incorporate viewing from seven major streamers: Amazon Prime Video (AMZN), Apple TV+ (AAPL), Disney+ (DIS), HBO Max (WBD), Hulu (DIS) (CMCSA), Netflix (NFLX) and Peacock (CMCSA).)