Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Sandman’ series ranked up more than a billion minutes of viewing time in the three days after its Aug. 5 premiere, according to Nielsen’s streaming rankings. That put it in third among all original series for the week of Aug. 1-7, behind only the last two shows to hold the No. 1 spot.
After two weeks in second, Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ reclaimed the top position on the chart with 1.42 billion minutes of viewing time. It ranked first for the eighth time in the 10 weeks since season four debuted in late May. It was down about 22 percent from the previous week.
The prior week’s No. 1, ‘Virgin River,’ had a steeper 42 percent decline to finish second among original series with 1.39 billion minutes, followed by ‘The Sandman’ at 1.02 billion. It was the biggest series debut since ‘The Terminal List’ had 1.11 billion minutes of viewing on Prime Video in early July.
Preschool show ‘Cocomelon’ (741 million minutes) had the most viewing time among acquired series for the Aug. 1-7 period. Pixar’s ‘Lightyear’ (1.31 billion minutes) led the movie rankings in its streaming debut on Disney+, beating out Netflix’s ‘Uncharted’ (1.01 billion).
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 only include Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video.
Nielsen’s top streaming series for Aug. 1-7 are below.
Original Series
1. Stranger Things (Netflix), 1.42 billion minutes viewed
2. Virgin River (Netflix), 1.39 billion
3. The Sandman (Netflix), 1.02 billion
4. Keep Breathing (Netflix), 722 million
5. Uncoupled (Netflix), 532 million
6. Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 (Netflix), 504 million
7. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu), 382 million
8. Longmire (Netflix), 287 million
9. The Umbrella Academy (Netflix), 274 million
9 (tie). Car Masters: Rust to Riches (Netflix), 274 million
Acquired Series
1. Cocomelon (Netflix), 741 million minutes
2. NCIS (Netflix), 692 million
3. Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix), 658 million
4. Friends (HBO Max), 441 million
5. The Big Bang Theory (HBO Max), 410 million
6. Gilmore Girls (Netflix), 383 million
7. The Vampire Diaries (Netflix), 376 million
8. Alone (Hulu/Netflix), 370 million
9. Seinfeld (Netflix), 354 million
9 (tie). Shameless (Netflix), 354 million
