In late November, Apple TV touted that Vince Gilligan’s “Pluribus” broke the record previously held by “Severance” Season 2 to become the streamer’s biggest global drama series launch.
It’s a surprising feat for the dystopian sci-fi show, given it took nearly a month for “Pluribus” to appear on Nielsen’s top streaming charts. Given that “Severance” Season 2 had a strong showing on the Nielsen charts from the start, it’s likely the difference lies in a strong global audience for “Pluribus” touted by Apple, which is not captured by Nielsen’s U.S. audience measurement. Apple did not provide any further context or figures for “Pluribus,” so we’re basing this analysis on Nielsen’s streaming numbers.
“Pluribus” didn’t make its Nielsen top 10 streaming debut until the week of Dec. 8, which coincided with the release of its seventh episode, meaning that the weekly audience during the debut of its first six episodes did not tally enough streaming minutes to make it into the top 10. For the week of Dec. 8, however, “Pluribus” gathered 360 million streaming minutes across seven episodes, ranking as the No. 9 most-watched streaming original series for the week, ahead of Netflix’s “Ripple” with 354 million minutes and behind Netflix’s “Absentia” with 415 million minutes.
“Pluribus” stayed in the ninth spot on the streaming top 10 during the week of Dec. 15 as its penultimate episode debuted, though its viewership dipped down to 343 million viewing minutes.
The sci-fi series saw a significant uptick in viewing as it debuted its Season 1 finale the following week, with viewing shooting up to 483 million viewing minutes, landing as the No. 6 most-watched streaming original that week — behind Dave Chappelle’s latest standup special on Netflix and ahead of Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown.” The uptick in viewership still wasn’t enough to push “Pluribus” into the overall top 10 most-watched streaming series for the week though, with “Bluey” taking the No. 10 spot on the overall list with 831 million minutes.
But the viewership “Pluribus” represents a strong showing for its inaugural season, showcasing the battle a new series has to endure to capture the attention of audiences in the streaming era. It’s a feat that even the most beloved and critically acclaimed shows must overcome, as seen by Nielsen naming HBO Max’s “The Pitt” as the most-watched new streaming original drama series with 11.4 billion viewing minutes in 2025, as compared to the 40 billion minutes tallied up by “Stranger Things.” And the challenge is even tougher for a smaller streaming service like Apple, as compared to new series launched by Netflix or HBO.
While “Pluribus” lapped “Severance” in its debut season (the latter did not appear within the charts through the entirety of its Season 1 rollout), “Severance” Season 2 outpaced “Pluribus” by the time the Dan Erickson-created series returned in January 2025, reaping the benefit of its established audience and critical acclaim.
“Severance” tallied 589 million minutes during the week it debuted its Season 2 premiere, landing as the No. 4 most-watched streaming original, and grew in its second week to reach 622 million minutes. By its fifth week, “Severance” reached a new weekly viewing high of 681 million minutes. It held strong in the streaming originals top 10 through the entirety of its Season 2 rollout, including its finale, which helped boost the series to another high of 876 million minutes, pushing it into the overall streaming top 10 list for the first time.
Likewise, fellow Apple TV drama series “The Morning Show,” which is going strong into its fifth season, gathered a solid audience with its Season 4 debut. The drama series made its first appearance on the streaming top 10 with two installments out with 458 million viewing minutes during the week of Sept. 22. It fell off the originals list for the rest of the season.
Given the strong showing for its latter half of the season, “Pluribus” seems even better positioned to build on its audience than “Severance,” and Apple certainly thinks so as well, as the streamer granted the series a Season 2 renewal before the series even premiered.
Apple TV also shared in December that “Pluribus” is the “most-watched show in Apple TV history,” but also refrained from sharing any exact viewing figures. With limited access to global viewing data (Nielsen reflects U.S. viewing only), it’s difficult to do our own calculations there.
Tony Dokoupil sees CBS News ratings boost, while ABC’s “World News Tonight” score milestones
“CBS Evening News With Tony Dokoupil” saw ratings growth in the new anchor’s third week, with the week of Jan. 19 averaging 4.9 million viewers — up 17% from the previous week — and 675,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo — up 16% from the previous week, per Nielsen live-plus-same-day figures. The broadcast was also up 21% in total viewers and 36% in the demo compared to the season-to-date average.
Three weeks into Dokoupil’s tenure, “CBS Evening News” is averaging 4.4 million viewers and 597,000 in the demo, up 10% and 21%, respectively when compared to the 2025-26 season-to-date average.
Meanwhile, ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 newscast across broadcast and cable with 9 million total viewers, 1.1 million adults 25-54 and 755,000 adults 18-49 during the week of Jan. 19. The show also scored the most-watched network news telecast in nearly six months with 10.9 million viewers.
AFC and NFC Championships score impressive numbers
In the lead-up to next week’s Super Bowl, the AFC and NFC championships drew impressive audiences, with the Patriots and Broncos game scoring 48.6 million viewers while Rams-Seahawks matchup drew 46.1 million viewers. The notable viewership bodes well for the Super Bowl, which has grown its audience for two years in a row.
UFC’s Paramount+ debut and “Skyscraper Live” competed for live views
After Netflix’s “Skyscraper Live” faced a one-day postponement due to weather, it competed with the UFC’s debut on Paramount+ on Saturday.
While the viewership metrics for the two events aren’t apples-to-apples, UFC 324 tallied a live average minute audience of 5 million streaming viewers for its main card, according to Adobe Analytics and channel partner data for the live event, while “Skyscraper Live” brought in 6.2 million views flooding in on Saturday and Sunday, per Netflix.
