When “The Night Agent” first debuted on Netflix in 2023, the Gabriel Basso-led action series dominated the platform, landing as the most-watched title by hours viewed for the first half of that year.
Just over three years and two seasons later, “The Night Agent” has lost its ratings crown, with Season 3 debuting in lackluster fashion in February, getting outpaced by a buzzy “Top Model” documentary and the new season of “Bridgerton.” Netflix still granted “The Night Agent” an additional installment in the wake of the ratings slump, but, less than two months later, announced Season 4 would be the show’s last.
The decision to end the series was attributed to a creative decision, with showrunner Shawn Ryan sharing in a statement, “ever since the initial success of ‘The Night Agent,’ I’ve been obsessed with eventually delivering a proper and thrilling conclusion to the show and to Peter Sutherland’s journey.”
While a ratings downturn after a successful first season is nothing to be discouraged by — even “Bridgerton” has seen slight decreases through the seasons — “The Night Agent” might have simply run its course with Netflix audiences, with viewers less keen to hold interest in longer-running bingeable series that take too long (in viewers’ eyes) to return with more episodes.
Beyond the downsides of a binge model, these ratings downticks signal that a more competitive streaming market has made it harder for Netflix to cultivate audiences for long-running shows, so it’s letting go of the model behind foundational hits, like “Orange Is the New Black” and “House of Cards,” for titles with shorter lifespans. Of course, there are still exceptions to the new rules — like “Virgin River” and “Bridgerton.”
“The Night Agent” first debuted in March 2023 atop Netflix’s weekly top 10 TV list to 168.71 million hours viewed, more than tripling the viewership of its closest competitor, “Shadow and Bone,” which tallied 55.03 million views during the same week.
While those hours viewed don’t reflect the viewership metrics Netflix shifted to just months later in 2023, “The Night Agent’s” domination was undeniable: the season stayed in the top 10 list for 17 weeks and cracked Netflix’s top 10 most popular shows of all time in just three weeks. In fact, it wasn’t until last month that “The Night Agent” Season 1 was booted off the Netflix top 10 most popular English-language shows by limited murder mystery series “His & Hers,” which took over the No. 10 spot.
By the time “The Night Agent” returned for its second season in January 2025, it still dominated Netflix’s TV offerings as the most-watched series with 13.9 million views during its debut week, soaring over “XO, Kitty” with 9.2 million views. Season 2 remained in the top 10 for six weeks and held onto the top spot over “The Recruit” Season 2 (more on that below), and even ranked as the top English-language show for four consecutive weeks.
That momentum slowed down by the time Season 3 arrived, when “The Night Agent” debuted to 8.4 million views in the No. 2 spot on the weekly TV list, behind “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model,” which took the top spot with 14.2 million views. This time around, “The Night Agent” only stayed in the top 10 for four weeks, though it stayed at the No. 2 spot for two, outpaced by the “Top Model” and “Dinosaurs” docs and “Bridgerton” Season 4.
In terms of overall viewing during the first half of 2023, “The Night Agent” tallied 812.1 million hours viewed (also reflecting the previous methodology) — landing as the top title for the six-month period — but shifted viewership metrics for the first half of 2025 saw Season 2 come in as the No. 9 most-watched program for the interval, behind juggernauts like “Adolescence” and “Squid Game” Seasons 2 and 3. Comprehensive viewing figures for the first half of 2026 are not yet available.
Debuting right alongside the first two seasons of “The Night Agent” was another law enforcement crime thriller with a young lead, “The Recruit,” which had a solid Season 1 debut but, as mentioned, didn’t stand out by Season 2 when it premiered merely a week apart from “The Night Agent” Season 2. The Noah Centineo series was canceled.
This isn’t to say that action thriller series aren’t working for Netflix — just this week “Man on Fire” debuted as the week’s top TV show with 11 million views. But new releases have the benefit of being new and shiny to viewers, promising a quick and propulsive watch — for the weekend.
While the binge model lets viewers give in to their urges to find out what happens immediately, as we outlined last week, it shortens the cultural moment for shows, as seen by “The Pitt” seeing growth into its second season while series like “Running Point” and “Beef” — neither of which have yet been renewed for Season 3 — see sophomore ratings slumps.
Kentucky Derby races to historic ratings
Like its history-making winner, Saturday’s Kentucky Derby raced to its most-watched on record with an average of 19.6 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, galloping over its 2025 viewership by 11%, per preliminary Nielsen data. Viewership peaked at 24.4 million viewers from 7-7:15 p.m. ET, when Cherie DeVaux became first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner, which also marked the biggest peak audience for the Derby and was up 12% from last year.
The Derby also brought some attention to Hallmark’s new movie “Kentucky Roses,” which was created in partnership with Churchill Downs. The movie stood out as the most-watched cable entertainment program on Saturday and of the week among key demographics.
Stanley Cup Playoffs start with a bang
In just the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the hockey postseason is already breaking records for the NHL. Round 1 of the playoffs wrapped up as the most-watched opening round on record in the U.S. with an average 1.2 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TRU and TBS, up 68% from 2025’s Round 1. Additionally, both ESPN and TNT Sports brought in their biggest Stanley Cup Playoffs audience of the current rights deal.
Some notable ratings wins include Montreal-Tampa Bay’s Game 7 with an average audience of 2.3 million viewers on TNT Sports, which marks the most-watched first round game on cable ever featuring a Canadian team, as well Philadelphia-Pittsburgh’s Game 1, which averaged 2.1 million viewers, the most-watched Round 1 game on cable, excluding Game 7s.
“The Pitt” keeps rising
The sustained momentum during “The Pitt” Season 2 has paid off, with the medical drama scoring the top spot on Nielsen’s overall streaming list for the first time ever.
For the week of March 30, “The Pitt” tallied 1.16 billion minutes, marking the show’s eighth consecutive week with over 1 billion viewing minutes as well as its 11th billion-minute week of the past 12.
ICYMI:
- “Live With Kelly and Mark” scored its fifth straight week of ratings growth as it returned from spring break
- “Apex” soared even higher in its second week on Netflix with 40 million views
- Just in time for May the Fourth, Nielsen reports “Star Wars” has found a multigenerational audience in its franchise series, with both “The Mandalorian” and “Andor” emerging as cross-generational favorites
