Nielsen Streaming Top 10: ‘Suits’ Beats ‘Wednesday,’ Achieving Second Highest Six-Week Viewership Total Ever
It’s another week, another record for “Suits” on the Nielsen Streaming Top 10.
The USA Network drama has moved past its peak, falling from last week’s 3.9 billion minutes watched to (a still whopping) 3.6 billion minutes watched, this week’s total makes it the second most-streamed series ever recorded by Nielsen when considering viewership totals over six consecutive weeks.
More from Variety
More simply put, “Wednesday” was watched for just under 20.3 billion minutes in its first six weeks of availability when it premiered last fall, and “Suits” has now exceeded that with just over 20.3 billion minutes between June 19 and July 30. “Stranger Things” is the only title that has ever exceeded those totals, with 27.8 billion minutes watched over six weeks when Season 4 debuted last summer.
When comparing these totals, it should be noted that Nielsen combines viewership of all seasons of a series into one measurement. Therefore, “Wednesday’s” eight episodes, all under one hour long, put the series at a disadvantage to “Suits'” 136 42-minute episodes and “Stranger Things'” 34 episodes that run between 42 minutes and two hours long.
“Suits” easily took the No. 1 position of the week, as it has done every week since being added to Netflix in June (though these totals have included viewership on Peacock as well). This was the first week “Suits” has seen a decrease in viewership week-over-week — a 7% decrease from last week‘s 3.9 billion minutes watched, which, for the third time, reset the record for most-watched acquired title. However, it’s clear that the series will continue to be a prominent presence in summer viewing.
In second place was “Sweet Magnolias,” a jump from its No. 3 position the previous window, during which its third season premiered. The Netflix drama was watched for 1.4 billion minutes from July 24-30.
“Bluey” traded places with “Sweet Magnolias,” landing in third place after last week’s second-in-a-row No. 2 showing. The animated preschool series still notched an impressive 1.1 billion minutes watched, though — its third week ever crossing the one billion mark.
“The Witcher” came in fourth place, returning to the chart with 868 million minutes watched thanks to the debut of the second part of Season 3. Part 1 was released on June 29, and Part 2 was released on July 27, meaning the most recent episodes were available for four days of this viewing window.
Chart regulars “NCIS” AND “Grey’s Anatomy” tied for the next spots with 707 million minutes watched each. They were followed by two movies: “They Cloned Tyrone” with 664 million minutes watched in its first full week on Netflix and “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” with 638 million minutes watched in its first six days on Paramount+.
Rounding out the bottom of the chart was “S.W.A.T.” with 607 million minutes and “Cocomelon” with 606 million minutes.
See Nielsen’s list of overall streaming rankings for July 24-30 first, followed by original streaming titles, acquired titles and then films.
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.