Was 'Halloween Ends' Peacock's Most Streamed Program Ever?

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Seventeenth installment of Universal Pictures horror franchise is the first Peacock program to surface in Nielsen's weekly top 10 ranker for subscription streaming

Universal Pictures' 'Halloween Ends'
(Image credit: Halloween Ends)

Who was going to watch Universal's 17th Halloween movie, with 63-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis reprising the co-starring role that first made her a star back when she was a teenager?

Well, apparently this little trinket of cinematic Candy Corn found an audience ... on Peacock this time, not in theaters. 

Halloween Ends, produced by Blumhouse Productions, distributed by Universal Pictures and once again pitting Curtis' long-suffering Laurie against the infamously masked, knife-wielding and -- of course -- deranged Michael Myers, generated 717 million minutes of streaming in the U.S. from its Oct. 14 debut through Oct. 16. 

The movie placed eighth overall on Nielsen's top 10 ranker for domestic SVOD viewing for the week of Oct. 10-16, just behind Netflix's perennially dynamic off-net kids show Cocomelon -- the first time ever that a Peacock show has surfaced in Nielsen's weekly streaming rankings.

Released in domestic theaters day and date with its Peacock debut, Halloween Ends has also generated $103.3 million at the global box office. 

 

Nielsen Top 10 Streaming Programs Oct. 10-16, 2022

(Image credit: Nielsen)

Does that means Halloween Ends just had Peacock's biggest opening ever?

Tough to say for sure ... but suspect so.

Next TV probably isn't the only entity that finds Nielsen's methodology opaque and its dealings with the trade media somewhat byzantine. We don't know, for example, when Nielsen became authorized under contract with NBCUniversal to release Peacock audience information.

And for this ranker, Nielsen only relies on sampling for "glass-only" viewing on TV sets, so the portion of the audience watching on laptops, phones and tablets isn't included. 

We do know that the total Peacock active users base across free and paid platforms has increased a bit recently, exceeding 15 million paid customers and 30 million total users.

Meanwhile, for scale, for the two-week 2022 Beijing Olympics in February -- a high-water programming event for Peacock -- NBCU touted 2 billion streaming minutes across its digital platforms, "led by Peacock."

In that context, 717 million minutes in just three days seems like a lot. ■

Daniel Frankel
Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!