In the vast landscape of streaming content, three titles, namely ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘NCIS’, and ‘Cocomelon’, have consistently maintained their dominance on Nielsen’s top performers’ Streaming charts, surpassing all other contenders. Whether you’re in the United States or beyond, there’s a high likelihood that someone is currently engrossed in an episode of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ or ‘NCIS’, while the younger audience is immersed in the world of ‘Cocomelon’.
Three Years of Streaming Dominance
Nielsen initiated the weekly streaming charts three years ago, and in the 157 weeks since its inception, these three series have maintained a consistent presence, standing out from all other titles across various streaming platforms. Remarkably, not a single week has transpired without at least one of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘NCIS’, or ‘Cocomelon’ making their mark since the inaugural chart release on September 3, 2020, which covered the week of August 3-9.
Grey’s Anatomy: The Unbeaten Champion
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ boasts the longest streak of consecutive weeks within the top 10. The medical drama, available for streaming on Netflix, secured a spot in the very first ranking and persisted through all of 2021 and 2022 before eventually slipping out of the top 10 acquired series during the week of May 8-14, 2023, marking a remarkable run of 144 weeks. As of the time of this publication, the medical drama has featured in 153 out of the 157 Nielsen streaming rankings.
NCIS and Cocomelon: Close to Overtaking
Meanwhile, ‘NCIS’ (with 136 uninterrupted weeks and 147 overall) and ‘Cocomelon’ (with 135 consecutive weeks) are inching closer to surpassing ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ if they continue to maintain their rankings, as they have consistently done since the beginning of 2021.
The Streaming Patterns Unveiled
Upon scrutinizing three years of these rankings, which solely encompass TV-set viewing in the United States, certain patterns emerge. Most prominently, Nielsen’s method of calculating streaming charts viewership, based on the total time spent watching all episodes of a series, gives an upper hand to shows with extensive episode libraries.
The Advantage of Extensive Episode Libraries
Among the 12 titles that have spent the most time in the rankings, six are either current or former broadcast series with a minimum of 150 episodes each, including ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘NCIS,’ ‘Criminal Minds,’ ‘Supernatural,’ ‘Gilmore Girls,’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory.’ An additional contender, ‘Heartland,’ has been airing in Canada since 2007, offering over 230 episodes for streaming audiences in the U.S.
Repeating Success: Cocomelon and Bluey
Interestingly, even without an extensive backlog of episodes, four titles have consistently maintained their presence in the streaming rankings, largely owing to repeated viewing, particularly by children. For instance, ‘Cocomelon,’ tailored for preschoolers, has managed an impressive 135-week streak in the top 10 acquired series, despite having only about 20 hours of programming available on Netflix. However, these 20 hours are watched repeatedly by young viewers. Similarly, ‘Bluey,’ with a catalog of 140 episodes on Disney+, each lasting approximately eight minutes, totals just under 19 hours of content.
Disney’s Repeated Movie Magic
Disney movies, including ‘Moana’ (84 weeks in the top 10 films list) and ‘Encanto’ (58 weeks), also benefit from repeated viewings. Notably, the threshold for making the top 10 movies in Nielsen’s rankings is generally lower compared to a series, given that a feature film typically offers only a couple of hours of content compared to the dozens or even hundreds of hours in a series.
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The Exception: ‘The Great British Baking Show
Among the 12 most consistently ranked titles, only one original streaming series stands out, but it comes with a caveat. ‘The Great British Baking Show’ is a Netflix original outside the U.K., but it is produced by Channel 4 in its home country and airs there for a few days before becoming available for streaming in the United States.
A Glimpse of Original Series’ Success
In general, original series, whether released all at once, weekly, or somewhere in between, tend to experience a burst of popularity before fading from the rankings between seasons. ‘The Crown’ holds the record for the most weeks in the top 10 (38) among original series, following ‘The Great British Baking Show,’ while ‘Stranger Things’ claims the longest consecutive streak in the rankings at 19 weeks.
The Limited Series Impact: ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Ozark’
However, ‘Stranger Things only registers a total of 20 weeks in the top 10, and another hit show, ‘Ozark,’ is only credited with 25 weeks. This can be attributed to the fact that both series have had only one new season during the three years of Nielsen rankings, with the rest of their content released well before the weekly charts were introduced.
