It's So Obvious Now: The Streaming Services Never Understood Great Streaming TV
Trying to get transparent streaming numbers is harder than trying to pull an infected tooth from a rabid animal, but the Nielsen streaming chart sure does try. Their most recent report (via The Hollywood Reporter) shows that, once again, "Suits" is dominating the streaming charts despite the show going off the air in 2019. The legal drama originally aired on USA Network for nine seasons but pulled in an impressive 3.7 billion minutes viewed this past week, breaking the single-week record for a library show on the Nielsen streaming chart for the third time in a row.
But "Suits" is not alone in breaking records, as the groundbreaking children's series, "Bluey" hit its first billion-minute week on Disney+, coming in second with 1.35 billion minutes streamed. This is the highest a Disney+ series has ever ranked on the Nielsen streaming charts, outperforming any of the Marvel or "Star Wars" shows put out by the platform. It's doubly impressive considering "Bluey" episodes typically run around seven minutes in length, making it hard to compete against the 42-minute averages of a show like "Suits." Here's the week's top 10 in full:
- "Suits" (Netflix/Peacock), 3.7 billion minutes viewed
- "Bluey" (Disney+), 1.35 billion
- "The Lincoln Lawyer" (Netflix), 1.28 billion
- "Jack Ryan" (Prime Video), 1.15 billion
- "Quarterback" (Netflix), 853 million
- "The Out-Laws" (Netflix), 840 million [Note: This is an original movie, not a series.]
- "NCIS" (Netflix/Paramount+), 828 million
- "Grey's Anatomy" (Netflix), 802 million
- "The Witcher" (Netflix), 669 million
- "Cocomelon" (Netflix), 648 million
I can't help but notice that the majority of the most-watched shows are acquired titles from broadcast television or international television providers. For all of the emphasis streamers make on providing "the best original programming," it's troubling to see that the majority of folks aren't spending their time watching it.
The Suits explosion
"Suits" was a pretty popular show during its time, but the newfound explosion of popularity seems to be inspired by people discovering that Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, played the role of Rachel Zane on the series for seven seasons after the show debuted on Netflix and Peacock. Discussions about the show quickly went viral, which inspired influencers and content creators to join in on the discussions, hoping to milk some of the virtual water cooler for themselves. The result? Everyone is watching "Suits," apparently. The series acquired more viewing minutes than the top four original series ("The Lincoln Lawyer," "Jack Ryan," "Quarterback," and "The Witcher") combined. Granted, there are nine available seasons of "Suits," so this allows audiences to binge watch for a longer length of time, but those numbers are still ridiculous.
Speaking of ridiculous, the comparative numbers between the original series and the acquired series are staggering. As an example, the tenth most popular original series is "Hack My Home" on Netflix, which brought in 346 million viewing minutes. Meanwhile, the tenth most popular acquired series was "Outlander," also on Netflix, which earned 446 million minutes. That's 100 million more minutes of viewership for the same respective chart placement. It's important to point this out because so many streamers keep gutting their libraries to save money when in reality, these appear to be the shows that people are watching.
"The Lincoln Lawyer" on Netflix is a series adaptation of an existing film, but fills a similar niche to "Suits." And yet, the original series is being outwatched, and the sharing of this list online inspired many a "They made a 'Lincoln Lawyer' series?" tweets in response. They did. It has Neve Campbell! And it's pretty good! But it's still getting crushed by a USA Network show that debuted 12 years ago and a cartoon most popular with elementary schoolers and millennial adults who can't afford therapy.
Good for you, Bluey!
There's been an alarming trend as of late where pre-school-aged programming has been canceled at streamers across the board after previously receiving a green light, and existing libraries have been destroyed. When Max (fka HBO Max) massacred their library this time last year, they even got rid of "The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo" and some episodes of "Sesame Street." These executives obviously don't see the value in investing in quality programming geared toward audiences that aren't old enough yet to directly contribute to the capitalist machine, and that's a huge mistake.
Two of the most streamed shows are meant for children, and both are acquired programs for their respective platforms. Netflix has "Cocomelon," a show that I feel violates the Geneva Convention because it doubles as a torture device, while Disney+ has "Bluey," the Australian animated series about anthropomorphic dogs that very well may be the best animated show for children, ever. I have no problem coming out as a "Bluey Adult," because a quality show is a quality show regardless of who the target audience is. "Bluey" is accessible to young children who often watch their favorite shows on a loop, but is filled with humor and heart that appeals to adults. For example, Rose Byrne guests as Bluey's aunt Brandy, who it is revealed hasn't visited her nieces since they were born because she's unable to have children of her own and it's too painful to see them. That's a very adult topic, but is presented in an age-appropriate manner for kids.
"Bluey" was the second-most streamed series last week, and since the episodes are only seven minutes long, that equates to roughly 192,857,143 episodes of "Bluey" watched, or 19,133 episodes watched every minute. But sure, there's no value in original programming for young audiences, I guess!
Can we even trust the numbers?
We are currently in the midst of a dual strike as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) fight for a better contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). One of the major battlegrounds is over residuals on streaming, which would require platforms to provide accurate data. Many have speculated that streamers are either making way more money off of their offerings than they've been willing to report or way less money, which would terrify their investors. Regardless of the answer, the reality is that the six original writers behind those 3 million minutes of streaming collectively brought in roughly $3,000 combined last quarter from Netflix. That is not okay.
While Nielsen uses people-powered panels and proprietary metering technology to measure what content is streamed, there would be a lot less hesitancy to trust the numbers if streamers were forced to be transparent about what's really going on. Nielsen has been a reputable source for decades but has been coming under fire as of late for undercounting numbers, costing TV networks millions in ad revenue in the process.
Determining the accuracy is important, yes, but say these numbers are correct, I can't stop thinking about the writers, directors, actors, and everyone else who worked on shows like "Suits" who aren't seeing a higher dollar amount on their residual checks this month to reflect the explosion of popularity on streaming. Streamers love to brag about these huge viewership numbers but certainly don't seem to want to share the wealth with those responsible for the success. May these so-called record-breaking numbers serve as a reminder to us all to support the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and put pressure on the AMPTP as viewers to offer a fair deal.
Streamers don't know what they have
With few exceptions like "Stranger Things" on Netflix or "Ted Lasso" on Apple TV+, it's starting to feel like streamers don't know what quality original programming they already have. At the very least, they certainly don't know how to market it. A show like "Twisted Metal" on Peacock should basically sell itself, and yet there are countless people who have no idea it even exists. Mel Brooks joined forces with Hulu to give "The History of the World Pt. 2" and a huge chunk of folks who grew up on the original film are completely unaware. Hell, the fact that Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne essentially reinvented "Columbo" with "Poker Face" and it wasn't the most talked about show of the year is downright criminal.
It feels like I'm discovering a new series on Prime Video every other week that I absolutely fall in love with, only to learn after the fact that the show was canceled for a lack of viewership. And the issue isn't that audiences aren't watching things on streaming — they are, but they're not watching originals. And in this case, I'm not blaming the viewers for watching "The Office" for the millionth time, I'm blaming the out-of-touch suits who don't understand their own product or market.
You can blame it on streaming series made with binge-watching in mind or market saturation all you want, but the real problem is that the powers that be decided to abandon what makes our industry magical in favor of chasing the trends of tech bros, and the creative, original artists (and those who love their work) that are the lifeblood of the entertainment industry are the ones paying the price. The next time you have the urge to binge "Parks and Recreation" once again, do yourself a favor and queue up that new, original series you've been putting off ... because there's no way of knowing how long we'll still have them.