'Cobra Kai' leads again in third-biggest streaming week ever
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The sea of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) original content kept the company in prime position to capture streaming eyeballs as post-holiday U.S. viewership remained high overall.
The leader's Cobra Kai was once again the most-streamed program in Nielsen's latest streaming ratings (for the week of Jan. 3-Jan.9), with 2.153 billion minutes streamed, holding off a wildly successful movie from Disney+ (NYSE:DIS).
That would be new film Encanto, which streamed a high-for-films 1.482 billion minutes. The Karate Kid spinoff and the Disney musical movie were also Nos. 1 and 2 last week, when each of them streamed more than 2 billion minutes.
Viewership across the services stayed high even though it pulled back from the prior week's all-time high for streaming; it also fell behind Christmas week in terms of all-time minutes, Nielsen says.
The rest of the overall top 10 in Nielsen's ratings was nearly all Netflix (NFLX): No. 3, The Witcher (1.105 billion minutes streamed); No. 4, Stay Close (988 million); No. 5, film Don't Look Up (807 million); No. 6, CoComelon (748 million); No. 7, Queer Eye (723 million); No. 8, NCIS (689 million); and No. 9, Criminal Minds (672 million).
The other exception was the arrival of Disney's The Book of Boba Fett in the overall top 10 after the release of its second episode - the latest of the Mouse House's Star Wars/Marvel series to make a dent in Netflix's usual domination. It cracked the list with 563 million minutes.
Netflix (NFLX) dominated the acquired-series list as usual, led by CoComelon, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Seinfeld (519 million minutes) and Grey's Anatomy (452 million). A rare entry from Hulu (DIS, CMCSA) came at No. 8 with 1980s series The Golden Girls (384 million), which saw a bounce after the death of star Betty White. And No. 9 acquired program The Thundermans (379 million) is shared by Hulu and Netflix.
The original-programs chart was also topped by Netflix's Cobra Kai, The Witcher, Stay Close and Queer Eye.
The Book of Boba Fett landed at No. 5, just ahead of Netflix's Emily in Paris (553 million minutes) and Ozark (301 million minutes as viewers warmed up for a Jan. 21 season premiere). Amazon Prime Video (NASDAQ:AMZN) landed at No. 8 on the originals list with The Wheel of Time (300 million).
Disney+ has been increasingly taking up spots on the movies chart, though Netflix's movie-a-week volume approach is also paying off there. While Encanto was far and away the top film there with 1.482 billion minutes, it was followed in order by seven Netflix titles: Don't Look Up; Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (400 million); Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (344 million); The Town (238 million); Just Go With It (238 million); The Lost Daughter (224 million); and 2012's Dark Shadows (198 million). Disney+ rounded out that list with Moana (187 million) and Ron's Gone Wrong (175 million).
(A reminder that Nielsen streaming ratings incorporate viewing from five major streamers: Amazon Prime Video (AMZN), Apple TV+ (NASDAQ:AAPL), Disney+ (DIS), Hulu (DIS, CMCSA) and Netflix (NFLX).)
Netflix (NFLX) is coming off a fresh upgrade at Citigroup, which says the valuation (punished by a lackluster user figure in its latest quarterly report) doesn't reflect the subscriber growth beyond 2023.