Last week, when Nielsen published its rankings for the most-watched streaming series at the top of May 2026, it came as a surprise that the top title on the list was not a buzzy Netflix title or tentpole series. Instead, “La Brea,” the NBC sci-fi series that ran from 2021-2024, tallied a whopping 1.28 billion minutes during its first full week of availability on Netflix.
“La Brea,” which follows the chaos that comes after a giant sinkhole in Los Angeles’ La Brea Tar Pits pulls tourists back 10,000 years, ran for three seasons, with the third installment airing just six episodes ahead of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of summer 2023. The series had a solid debut on NBC but lost half its audience by Season 2 and was canceled with an abbreviated third season. Now it’s a huge streaming hit.
This marks another benefactor of the commonly dubbed “Netflix effect,” which sees lesser known series — more often than not old broadcast and cable shows — get mainstream attention once they’re licensed out to the streamer. It’s another reminder of Netflix’s reach that it can turn forgettable show from four years ago into a streaming sensation. For Netflix, it’s a nice win as it faces a scripted slowdown.
The licensing can be beneficial to a show amid its rollout, like NBC’s “Lopez vs. Lopez”; or even for CBS’s “Young Sheldon,” whose Netflix popularity might’ve boosted viewers to watch spinoff series “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.”
But attempts to mine the “Netflix effect” for continued success have had mixed results. The “Suits” streaming boom took over the summer of 2023, but when NBCUniversal decided to capitalize on that with a hastily concocted sequel spinoff series “Suits: LA,” the viewership didn’t follow.
Here’s another interesting point: “La Brea” has been streaming on Peacock for years.
Beyond further proving the cultural and streaming dominance of Netflix, when a show blows up in this way it speaks to the hunger for linear-esque shows alongside prestige hits, buzzy docs and tentpole series that Netflix is known for. That hunger might also explain why Netflix and CBS dominated this season’s top multiplatform shows, with CBS’ “Marshals” neck-and-neck with Netflix’s Diddy doc.
“La Brea” kicked off with a solid 6.2 million viewers as it debuted in 2021 on NBC, and Season 1 brought in 9 million average viewers during the 2021-2022 season, as the freshman installment benefited from streaming the next day on Hulu. Amid the chaos of the strikes, the show didn’t retain enough of its audience for NBC to keep it running, with its second season bringing in an average viewership of 5.3 million across NBC and Peacock during the 2022-2023 season.
By the time Season 3 aired its shortened season, the show averaged 4.1 million viewers across NBC and Peacock during the 2023-2024 season.
That viewership was blown out of the water by its Netflix debut in 2026, as the show made its Nielsen top 10 debut with 881 million minutes in its first three days across Netflix and Peacock. “La Brea” was the No. 3 overall streaming show during the week of April 27-May 3, per Nielsen, as well as the top streaming acquired program.
By its first full week of availability on Netflix, the NBC drama climbed to the No. 1 spot on the overall streaming list with 1.28 billion minutes, growing 46% from the previous week. Notably, the growth was driven by Millennial and Gen X audiences, with adults 35-64 driving 56% of watch time. On Netflix, “La Brea” ranked as the No. 10 show with 2.1 million views during the week May 4, and has remained in the top 10 for three weeks.
At this rate, we’ll see what series is next to benefit from the Netflix effect.
Trump boosts “Meet the Press”
“Meet the Press’” tumultuous interview with Donald Trump on Sunday boosted the Kristen Welker-hosted series to become the top Sunday public affairs show across the board. On Sunday, “Meet the Press” averaged 3.1 million total viewers, outperforming ABC by 21% and CBS by 33%, marking the show’s first No. 1 finish and biggest win over the networks since 2018.
NCAA Baseball Super Regional Soars
While the NBA Finals are making a viewership splash, ESPN also scored the most-watched NCAA Baseball Super Regional Round since 2009. The round averaged 608,000 viewers on ESPN networks, up 31% year-over-year.
The USC-North Carolina game brought in 1.3 million viewers while the Georgia-Mississippi State game brought in 1.2 million viewers, with both games ranking as the two most-watched Super Regional telecasts on record.
NASCAR Roars on Prime
Prime Video’s NASCAR Cup Series roared up a notable audience as it averaged 2.1 million viewers, up 17% over last season’s race, marking the biggest year-over-year increase of the entire 2026 NASCAR season when comparing to the same-week race from 2025. Viewership peaked from 6:30-6:44 p.m. ET with 2.6 million viewers, up 24% over last year’s peak.
ICYMI:
- The NBA Finals are on a ratings roll. Check out our coverage for Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3 here.
- “Love Island USA” Season 8 started strong as Peacock’s most-streamed original season, proving it’s more than holding on to its phenomenon status
- Jennifer Lopez’s “Office Romance” topped Netflix movie charts in its opening weekend
- NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” “Password” got strong ratings starts
- The “Summer House” love triangle drama boosted its reunion to ratings records
