The premiere of the Netflix original series The Irregulars captured 643 million minutes of U.S. viewing on the platform, making it the most watched show in the U.S. major SVOD biz for the week of March 29 - April 4, according to Nielsen.
The eight-part drama about a group of troubled street teens who must come together to save London and the entire world debuted on March 26. In its first three days on the streaming service The Irregulars garnered 424 million viewing minutes. The 219 million gain helped the drama surpass Disney Plus’ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which placed No. 1 on the originals chart during the week of March 22- 28.
With 628 million views per minute, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was the second most watched original series for the week ending April 4. The series follows Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan who both reprise their Avengers roles for the show. The series No. 2 spot on the originals chart is a noteworthy placement given Nielsen’s methodology.
For the fourth week in a row, according to Nielsen, no television program or film broke the one billion viewing minutes mark among the four major U.S. subscription streaming services.
Nielsen only ranks shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Disney Plus at this point. Each week, the research company publishes a snapshot of viewing a month prior. In addition to a master ranking of all SVOD shows, Nielsen also publishes rankings for original series, acquired series and movies.
Typically, Netflix dominates these lists simply because it has far more subscribers than any other service. The Disney Plus platform has an estimated 40 million viewers in the U.S. vs. more than 70 million for Netflix. Shows with longer tails also have an advantage—more episodes to binge on means more total minutes of viewing.
The Irregulars’ eight one-hour episodes gave it an advantage in viewing minutes over The Falcon and The Winter Soldier because only three installments of the Disney Plus six episode miniseries were available for viewing during the week of March 29.
For the first time, all four streaming services ranked by Nielsen made the originals chart. While Netflix represented seven of the top 10 original titles, Hulu’s Solar Opposites made the list for the second week in a row. The adult animated comedy’s 16 episodes tallied 171 million views per minutes, putting it in the No. 7 spot on the originals list.
Another adult animated series, Amazon’s Invincible, came in at No. 10. Invincible is based on the comic book franchise of the same name. Amazon released the first three episodes on March 26. The fourth episodes debuted on April 2. The rest of the eight-part season was released on a weekly basis throughout April.
Netflix’s Who Killed Sara came in at No. 3 on the originals chart and No. 4 on the overall ranking chart. The 10-episode revenge drama netted 553 million views per minute during the week of March 29. The non-English language series launched on March 24 and was officially renewed for a second season, which will launch on May 19. Netflix reported that after the series debuted it went to No. 1 on the streaming service and reached 55 million subscribers.
Netflix took all 10 spots on Nielsen’s acquired ranking chart. The off-network run of the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy took the top spot. The show's 16 seasons and 368 episodes of the series tallied 580 million U.S. viewing minutes during the week of March 29. That is down 30 million viewing minutes week over week. The show came in No. 3 on the master chart.
According to Nielsen, Netflix streaming of the 353 episodes CBS procedural NCIS drew 535 million viewing minutes putting the show in the No. 2 spot on the acquired chart and No. 5 on the master ranker. NCIS was down by 190 million viewing minutes week to week.
Netflix’s Cocomelon—the computer-animated, six—episode children’s program—collected 515 million minutes of viewing. The series came in at No. 3 on the acquired chart and No. 6 on the overall Nielsen SVOD listing.
For the second consecutive week, Netflix’s Bad Trip took the No. 1 spot on the movies chart.
Bad Trip, which follows two best friends on a cross-country road journey, drew 344 million minutes of viewing. That’s up 36 million viewing minutes week to week.
Netflix’s The Secret Magic Control Agency took the No. 2 spot with 268 million views per minute. The Easter holiday helped Netflix’s Hop—a 2011 Universal film about the Easter Bunny—place No. 3 with 217 million views per minute. Hop did not place on the Nielsen’s movie chart during the week of March 22-28.
Previous Weekly Rankings:
March 22-28 - 'Falcon and Winter Soldier' Tops SVOD Originals
March 15-21 - 'Grey's Anatomy' Re-Runs Top SVOD Ranker
March 8-14 - ‘The Crown’ Got Royal Gains from Meghan’s Big Oprah Interview
March 1-7 - Amazon Tops the Charts for the First Time with ‘Coming 2 America’
Feb 22-28 - Netflix’s 'Ginny & Georgia' Leads the SVOD Biz
