The Mandalorian makes history, tops Nielsen streaming ratings
The Mandalorian took Disney+ to the top of the Nielsen streaming charts with its season finale
Netflix has been knocked from the top of Nielsen’s streaming charts for the first time since its inception. During the December 14-20 reporting period, The Mandalorian drew 1.34 billion streaming minutes, giving Disney+ the top spot for the week and putting the streaming wars on notice that a power shift is coming.
Until now, Netflix has always reigned supreme, which isn’t all that impressive since for a long period of time it didn’t have much competition. As Hulu and Amazon Prime came onto the scene, the landscape shifted but Netflix always managed to be at the top.
Disney+ was a game changer. The perfect storm of high demand programming and lots of people sheltering in place gave it an edge as Disney’s family of studios debuted a great deal of content on the new streaming service. The Mandalorian was already a big hit, but lots of people started watching in season 2 who hadn’t been around for the thrill of the first season.
The timing of The Mandalorian’s season 2 finale no doubt helped Disney+ top The Office (1.31 billion streaming minutes) in its penultimate week on Netflix. Lots of people were cramming The Office binge watching sessions into the final two weeks of 2020 before the show’s departure for new streaming service Peacock, and The Mandalorian managed to beat it.
Of the top 10 shows on the Nielsen streaming list, 9 of them belong to Netflix, with only two of those shows – The Crown and Virgin River – part of Netflix original programming. Some of the other titles in the top 10 include Grey’s Anatomy (762 million minutes), Supernatural (684 million) and Schitt’s Creek (587 million). That’s the kind of power Netflix holds in the streaming space.
Next. WandaVision and everything else coming to Disney+ in January 2021. dark
Looking ahead at Disney+ lines up original content like WandaVision, Loki and new Star Wars and Marvel shows, there is every reason to believe that Netflix won’t dominate the streaming charts anymore. The Mandalorian’s arrival at the top of the chart could mark a tipping point for Netflix, putting the streamer on notice that there are some new competitors in town.