‘Stranger Things’ Rules 2022 Streaming Charts, Nielsen Says; Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ & ‘Ozark’ Big Winners Too
By Katie Campione, Deadline
January 26, 2023 6:00am
The results are in, and Netflix undoubtedly dominated the Nielsen U.S. streaming charts for 2022, led by originals including Stranger Things, Wednesday and Ozark — as well as acquisitions like Cocomelon and NCIS.
The streamer took home 11 of the top 15 spots on the overall streaming program list, and 13 spots among the streaming originals. Stranger Things came in at No. 1 on both lists with 52B minutes viewed across all 34 episodes of the series.
Ozark came in at No. 2 on the streaming originals chart and No. 4 overall with 31.3B viewing minutes. Wednesday‘s 18.6B minutes viewed put the series in third place among the streaming originals and 12th place overall — an impressive feat considering the new series only has eight episodes. Many of the series on the list have dozens or even hundreds of episodes.
Cobra Kai, Bridgerton, Virgin River, Dahmer, Love Is Blind, Inventing Anna, and The Crown rounded out the Top 10 for the streaming originals.
Prime Video managed to make an appearance in the Top 15 with The Boys coming in at No. 11 with 10.6B viewing minutes and The Rings of Power at No. 15 with 9.4B minutes viewed. The Rings of Power is one of two Season 1 shows (four including limited/anthology series) to make the Top 15, and, like Wednesday, only has eight episodes — the lowest number of episodes for any series on the list.
As for the overall list, NCIS and Cocomelon were in the second and third spots. They put up an impressive 38.1B and 37.8B minutes viewed, respectively. Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls, and Seinfeld were also among the Top 15.
Disney+ stole three spots on the overall list, with Encanto at No. 5. The film tallied 27.4B viewing minutes over the year. Bluey and The Simpsons also represented the streamer in the Top 15.
Here is the full Top 15 for both overall and originals, with streaming service, title, number of episodes (“1″=feature film) and minutes of viewing:
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