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Securing the streaming rights to “Young Sheldon” was a big win for Netflix. The “Big Bang Theory” prequel was viewed a total of 1.8 billion minutes on streaming, according to the latest insights from Nielsen.
These numbers reflect the period from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3. While streaming numbers were overall down during that week, “Young Sheldon” saw a 92% jump in viewership after being added to Netflix. Previously, the series was only available to stream on Max. 20% of those viewers were aged 50 years or older, a better ratio than the other traditional series that dominated the streaming landscape in 2023, “Suits” (50% of its viewing demographic was 50 years or older).
“Young Sheldon” was added to Netflix shortly after CBS announced it would be ending the Chuck Lorre comedy following the conclusion of its seventh season. A one-hour finale is scheduled to air on May 16.
Speaking of “Suits,” for the first time in nearly six months the USA drama fell out of Nielsen’s top 10 streaming list. The record-setting title spent 23 weeks in the overall top 10 list. Though it dropped out of the main list, “Suits” still ranked No. 6 on the acquired list with 682 million viewing minutes.
Second on the overall streaming roundup was Netflix’s reality TV original “Squid Game: The Challenge.” The competition series clocked in 1.4 billion minutes thanks to the release of four new episodes of Nov. 29. These numbers are nearly identical to the ones the series saw the previous week.
In total, Netflix was involved in eight of the week’s most viewed shows and movies on streaming. Five of those on the list were Netflix originals.
As well as “Squid Game: The Challenge,” the Adam Sandler children’s comedy “Leo” saw 858 million streaming minutes in its second week, putting it in fourth place. That was followed by the Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms comedy “Family Switch” in sixth place (834 million minutes streamed), the action comedy “Obliterated” in eighth place (742 million minutes streamed) and the romantic drama “Virgin River” in 10th place (204 million minutes streamed).
As for non-originals on Netflix, both ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and CBS’ “NCIS” made the list. “Grey’s Anatomy” secured fifth place with 835 million minutes streamed, and “NCIS,” which is available to stream on both Netflix and Paramount+, secured ninth place with 722 million minutes streamed.
There were only two titles in the top 10 list that didn’t benefit from a Netflix boost. The Australian animated children’s series “Bluey” was streamed on Disney+ for 905 million minutes during the week, earning it the No. 3 spot. That was then followed by Prime Video’s Eddie Murphy comedy “Candy Cane Lane,” which was streamed for a total of 804 million minutes and ranked seventh on the overall list.