The “Wednesday” craze continues.
During the Nov. 28-Dec. 4 viewing window, the popular Netflix series recorded 5.3 billion minutes viewed in its first complete week of availability, breaking another Nielsen streaming record. There have only been seven times that a program has crossed the 5 billion threshold and “Wednesday” is the fourth program to do so.
This marks the second time the series has managed such a feat. In its first five days of availability, the series quickly snagged 5.988 billion minutes viewed upon opening on the streamer setting a record for the second biggest week of streaming ever recorded by Nielsen. It’s defeated only by “Stranger Things” Season 4, which was viewed for 7.2 billion minutes in its first complete week of availability.
With only eight episodes available versus “Stranger Things'” 32 episodes at that time, it’s safe to say the number of shows gave the series a great boost over the Jenna Ortega-led series. Nevertheless, it’s a significant show of power against another Netflix heavyweight.
While Netflix hasn’t made any renewal announcements yet, it would seem a second season could be on the horizon for the teen fantasy series. Though, fans are wondering if the show will remain on Netflix or if it will go to Amazon Prime Video following the streamer’s acquisition of MGM – the studio behind the series. However, a source close to the situation at Netflix claims that transition is unlikely despite reports otherwise.
Also on the overall titles chart is “Firefly Lane” in second place. After the series debuted the first half of its second and final season, all 19 episodes of the drama were viewed for a total of 967 million minutes. Starring Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke, part two of the final season will be released on June 8.
Falling underneath the series is “Dead to Me” at No. 3 with 898 million minutes watched. For its second full week of availability of its third and final season, the figure is a notable drop from the previous week’s 1.5 billion minutes. While viewership numbers may be down, it’s still a strong performance after nearly three weeks of streaming.
Netflix’s Norwegian monster movie “Troll,” debuted on the overall list at No. 4 overall and topped the movies list with 880 million viewing minutes. The fantasy action film starring Ine Marie Wilmann tells the story of a paleontologist’s journey to stop an ancient troll from terrorizing the countryside after an explosion in the Norwegian mountains brings it to life.
The film performed better than Brad Pitt’s “Bullet Train,” which was added to Netflix on Dec. 3 following its theatrical release. In its first two days of availability, the film was viewed for 701 million minutes, placing it in ninth place on the overall chart and second on the movies list. “Troll” debuted on Netflix on Dec. 1, giving the film the advantage of two more days being counted in the week’s numbers.
“Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields” cracked the chart at No. 7 with 737 million minutes viewed across three episodes. The true crime documentary details a series of grisly murders spanning several decades across an overgrown field and a stretch of highway.
Elsewhere on the chart was “Cocomelon” (873 million), “The Crown” (814 million), “NCIS” (705 million) and “Manifest” (680 million).
See Nielsen’s list of overall streaming rankings for Nov. 28-Dec. 4 first, followed by original streaming titles, acquired titles and then films.
