‘Wheel of Time’ Tops Streaming Series Rankings for Nov. 15-21 – The Hollywood Reporter
The Wheel of Time rolled out to a strong start on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.
The fantasy series based on Robert Jordan’s best-selling novels racked up more than a billion minutes of viewing time in the week of its debut (Nov. 15-21). Prime Video released the first three episodes of the series on Nov. 19. Per Nielsen, The Wheel of Time‘s 1.16 billion minutes of watch time are the most for any original series on the platform since Hunters in February 2020 (before the ratings service started releasing weekly streaming rankings).
Since the weekly rankings began 15 months ago, the only other Prime original to top a billion minutes in a given week was The Boys, which had 1.06 billion minutes of viewing time for the week of Sept. 7-13, 2020.
The Wheel of Time‘s first three episodes have a total running time of 169 minutes, which equates to an average audience of a little under 6.9 million people in the United States.
Netflix’s Tiger King re-entered the top 10 with the release of Tiger King 2 on Nov. 17. Both seasons of the show racked up 685 million minutes of viewing in the United States, good for second among originals. The since-canceled Cowboy Bebop had a somewhat modest debut at 421 million minutes of watch time.
The top 10 acquired series chart includes for the first time a show on multiple platforms: Former Nickelodeon series The Thundermans, which streams on Netflix and Hulu. It tied for sixth among acquired series with 359 million minutes of viewing time.
Nielsen’s streaming ratings cover viewing on TV sets only and don’t include minutes watched on computers or mobile devices. The ratings only measure U.S. audiences, not those in other countries, and currently only include Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video.
Nielsen’s top streaming series for Nov. 15-21 are below.
Original Series
1. The Wheel of Time (Prime Video), 1.16 billion minutes viewed
2. Tiger King (Netflix), 685 million
3. The Great British Baking Show (Netflix), 513 million
4. You (Netflix), 489 million
5. Narcos: Mexico (Netflix), 428 million
6. Cowboy Bebop (Netflix), 421 million
7. Big Mouth (Netflix), 319 million
8. Maid (Netflix), 302 million
9. Locke & Key (Netflix), 293 million
10. Hellbound (Netflix), 272 million
Acquired Series
1. Cocomelon (Netflix), 869 million minutes
2. Seinfeld (Netflix), 602 million
3. Criminal Minds (Netflix), 517 million
4. NCIS (Netflix), 508 million
5. Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix), 399 million
6. The Thundermans (Hulu/Netflix), 359 million
6 (tie). Supernatural (Netflix), 359 million
8. Shameless (Netflix), 331 million
9. Gilmore Girls (Netflix), 315 million
10. Heartland (Netflix), 301 million