The Sandman topped the overall title on Nielsen’s streaming charts in its second week, and the acquired series rankings featured a rare occurrence of a show not on Netflix finishing first.
The acquired series honors for Aug. 8-14 went to Bluey, whose third season debuted on Disney+ the week of Aug. 8-14 and drove a big bump in viewing. The animated series had 917 million minutes of watch time for the week, well above the 300 million-400 million range typical of its previous appearances in the rankings. According to Nielsen, 58 percent of the show’s audience was made up of kids 11 and under.
The Sandman moved from third place to first among original series with 1.39 billion minutes of viewing, a 36 percent improvement on its opening the prior week. The adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comic moved ahead of Stranger Things (1.12 billion minutes) and Virgin River (934 million) to claim the top spot.
The final season of Locke & Key, which premiered Aug. 10 on Netflix, helped push the show into fourth place among original series at 919 million minutes of viewing. Never Have I Ever (596 million) re-entered the charts with the debut of its third season. Prime Video’s A League of Their Own also made the top 10 with 326 million minutes of watch time following its Aug. 12 premiere.
On the acquired series chart, Game of Thrones (431 million minutes on HBO Max) made its second appearance in three weeks in the lead-up to House of the Dragon’s premiere.
Nielsen’s streaming ratings cover viewing on TV sets only and don’t include minutes watched on computers or mobile devices. The ratings only measure U.S. audiences, not those in other countries, and currently include Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video.
Nielsen’s top streaming series for Aug. 8-14 are below.
Original Series
1. The Sandman (Netflix), 1.39 billion minutes viewed
2. Stranger Things (Netflix), 1.12 billion
3. Virgin River (Netflix), 934 million
4. Locke & Key (Netflix), 919 million
5. I Just Killed My Dad (Netflix), 655 million
6. Never Have I Ever (Netflix), 596 million
7. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu), 379 million
8. A League of Their Own (Prime Video), 326 million
9. Instant Dream Home (Netflix), 322 million
10. Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 (Netflix), 305 million
Acquired Series
1. Bluey (Disney+), 917 million minutes
2. NCIS (Netflix), 764 million
3. Cocomelon (Netflix), 702 million
4. Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix), 604 million
5. Riverdale (Netflix), 578 million
6. Gilmore Girls (Netflix), 456 million
7. Game of Thrones (HBO Max), 431 million
8. The Big Bang Theory (HBO Max), 399 million
9. Seinfeld (Netflix), 355 million
10. Heartland (Netflix), 348 million
