The Algorithm Is the Future, but Legacy TV Content Will Not Go Gently Into That Good Night

Three big questions re: the top streaming shows:
1) Which streaming shows had the largest audience?
2) What types of shows make up the largest share of viewership?
3) Which networks make up the largest viewership share?

Big question #1: Which streaming shows had the largest audience?

Top 10 streaming shows by total minutes viewed in 2024 according to Nielsen:
1) Bluey (Disney+) - 56B
2) Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix/Hulu) - 48B
3) Family Guy (Hulu) - 42B
4) Bob’s Burgers (Hulu) - 37B
5) NCIS (Netflix/Hulu/Paramount+) - 36B
6) Young Sheldon (Max/Netflix/Paramount+) - 32B
7) The Big Bang Theory (Max) - 29B
8) Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Peacock/Hulu) - 29B
9) Criminal Minds (Paramount+/Hulu) - 28B
10) SpongeBob Square Pants (Paramount+) - 28B

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Top 10 streaming originals by total minutes viewed in 2024:
1) Bridgerton (Netflix) - 21B
2) Love is Blind (Netflix) - 16B
3) The Boys (Prime Video) - 14B
4) The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix) - 12B
5) Fallout (Prime Video) - 12B
6) Futurama (Hulu) - 12B
7) Fool Me Once (Netflix) - 11B
8) Evil (Netflix/Paramount+) - 11B
9) Gabby’s Dollhouse (Netflix/Prime Video) - 11B
10) Reacher (Prime Video) - 11B

Big question #2: What types of shows make up the largest share of viewership?

Quick answer: The top 10 most watched shows on streaming and 31 of the top 100 are acquired shows that originally ran on linear TV.

Share of time spent with streaming in 2024, according to Nielsen:
1) Acquired - 43%
2) Originals - 34%
3) Movies - 23%

Bottom line: Content popular on linear TV has a good chance of being popular on streaming.  Only one original (Stranger Things) would crack the aggregate top 10 since 2021.

Mr. Screens’ take: I am a big believer in algorithmic-driven TV (algoTV). There is a clear advantage for companies with the best data/tech (Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, etc.). Whether Netflix could use its algorithm to become less reliant on licensing other people's content has been an open question. As of 2023, 58% of time spent with Netflix came from original programming. Was it more cost-effective to create original shows, or could they generate similar viewership from licensed content? It is shocking that last year's 10 most-watched streaming shows all originated on linear TV.

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Dive deep: The Entertainment Strategy Guy (a friend of SOTS) has written extensively about this trend and the formula that worked on linear TV (procedurals, etc.).

Big question #3: Which networks make up the largest viewership share?

Quick answer: Over the past 166 weeks (3+ years), Netflix accounted for 75% of the Nielsen top 10 list.  3X larger than all of their competitors combined.