Wednesday Debuts With Nielsens Second Biggest Streaming Week of All Time

September 2024 · 5 minute read

After a string of records broken on the Netflix Top 10, “Wednesday” has arrived on the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 to do the same.

The Tim Burton-directed series starring Jenna Ortega as the iconic Addams family daughter was watched for nearly 6 billion minutes during the Nov. 21-27 viewing window, during which it was only available for the last five days. This marks the second biggest week of streaming ever recorded by Nielsen, following only the first full week of availability of “Stranger Things” Season 4, during which the series was watched for 7.2 billion minutes.

It’s also presumable that “Wednesday” will best itself on the chart next week with the measurement of its first full week of availability. According to Netflix’s self-reported numbers, the series jumped from 341.2 million hours watched in its first five days on the streamer to 411.3 million the following week. There’s an obvious discrepancy due to Netflix and Nielsen’s differing measurement methodologies (Netflix measures hours watched across all devices globally whereas Nielsen measured minutes watched on TV screens in the U.S. alone), but the trajectory will likely stay the same.

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Along with “Wednesday” and multiple weeks of “Stranger Things,” the list of biggest streaming weeks also includes “Tiger King,” “Ozark” and “Dahmer” — all Netflix titles.

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In the No. 2 position on the streaming rankings for Nov. 21-27 was “Dead to Me” for the first full week of availability of its third and final season. The series was watched for 1.5 billion minutes during this viewing window, up from 1.4 billion the previous week.

With 1.1 billion minutes watched each, there was a tie on the chart for third place. Like “Dead to Me,” “1899” also had its first full week of availability, growing from 925 million in its first four days of availability. “The Crown” had its third week on the chart since reappearing with the debut of Season 5. The final season of the royal drama dropped from the 1.8 billion minutes it had on last week’s chart, where it sat in the No. 1 position.

The Netflix movie “Slumberland” took the No. 5 position with just under 1.1 billion minutes watched in its first full week of availability, an impressive feat given its shorter runtime compared to the TV series on the list. Following at No. 6 was “Manifest” on its fourth week since the debut of Season 4 Part 1. The series was watched for 988 million minutes between Nov. 21 and Nov. 27.

“NCIS” regularly rounds out the bottom of the chart, and this week took the No. 7 position with 811 million minutes watched. Similarly, “Cocomelon” was at No. 10 with 702 million.

In eighth place was “Yellowstone,” the Paramount Network drama series that streams its older episodes on Peacock. Season 5 debuted on Nov. 13, prompting fans to rewatch the first four seasons, which were viewed for a cumulative 736 million minutes between Nov. 21 and Nov 27.

At No. 9 was another movie: Netflix’s Christmas-themed “The Noel Diary.” With only four days of availability, the film was watched for 707 million minutes.

See the list of Nielsen’s biggest streaming weeks of all time below, followed by overall streaming rankings for Nov. 21-27 first, original streaming titles, acquired titles and then films.

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