EXCLUSIVE: Lucifer, a drama that debuted on the Fox broadcast network before becoming a Netflix show in 2018, topped Nielsen’s list of the most-streamed original series of 2021 in the U.S. (See the full charts below, with the top 15 original, acquired and movie titles.)
The 93 total episodes of the series netted more than 18.3 billion minutes of streaming during the year, according to the measurement firm’s year-end report. This put it in the lead. Squid Game‘s 16.4 billion, but the Korean phenomenon had only nine episodes on Netflix in 2021. Nielsen estimated that approximately 15% of U.S. viewers watched the Korean-language subtitled version. The rest were able to watch the English-dubbed version.
Lucifer‘s sixth and final season arrived on Netflix last September. Warner Bros Television and Jerry Bruckheimer Television produced the series.
Netflix saved the show when Fox canceled it. This precedent has been followed by other acquired properties which have become popular on Netflix’s platform. Ex-NBC series is a recent example. ManifestWith just 42 episodes, the show racked-up almost 20 million viewings last year. Decisions around continuing a show under Netflix’s auspices are complicated by traditional production entities’ usual approach of selling global territories piecemeal. For example, Fox had already sold rights to the UK. Lucifer in the UK to Amazon’s Prime Video; the show just ended its run on Prime there last year.
Netflix published its own top 10 programming lists across all of its international territories. LuciferIt turned out that a ‘not a major factor in those charts was because only the newest season was included in the rankings.
Three non-Netflix programs topped the originals chart The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu, Ted LassoApple TV+ WandavisionDisney+. The latter two shows were at a particular disadvantage in Nielsen’s view given their running time in the range of a half-hour.
The movie chart LucaIt was a clear win with 10.6 billion viewers. Pixar’s highly-rated feature was not released on a theatrical basis last summer, but instead was made available directly to Disney+ subscribers. The distribution strategy that has undoubtedly increased streaming numbers has been applied recently to Pixar titles, such as SoulFor March release, Turning Red.
Disney+ occupied the top four positions in the movie rankings with 2021 release Raya and The Last DragonLibrary mainstays are also included MoanaAnd Frozen II. Netflix ended up with only three of the top fifteen titles, despite having spent a lot on original movies and promoting the fact that it releases at least one major movie per week. Amazon, whose Prime Video service also invests substantial amounts in movies and only one title topped the movie chart. The Tomorrow War. Prime Video occupied only two of the 45 slots in Nielsen’s rankings.
Netflix’s undisputed dominance is however in the category of acquired programming. Because of Nielsen’s methodology — measuring the sheer tonnage of minutes watched, which favors titles with more episodes — long-running network staples tend to rule the rankings of acquired titles. It was so in 2021 when CBS’s former staple became a CBS staple. Criminal Minds(whose audience on Netflix actually is younger than its old-skewing Onetime Home would suggest).
With less than 33.9 trillion minutes of viewing, Criminal MindsThe show thrived on volume with 322 episodes. The 15th season’s finale was the last episode of the procedural.
The preschool phenomenon is a relatively small 15-episode series. CoComelonThe No. The No. 1 spot was reached at 33.3 billion minutes. The show’s production entity, Moonbug Entertainment, also made news in 2021, being acquired by Blackstone-backed Candle Media for $3 billion.
Netflix owned 14 of the top fifteen most acquired titles. The only title that was not shared with Netflix was SeinfeldHulu has now taken over the tv show.
Nielsen only measures viewing on a TV screen when compiling streaming rankings. Mobile viewing is not included in the calculation. Disney, Hulu, Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Netflix are, to date, the only services being regularly monitored, so there’s no indication of viewing of titles like FriendsHBO Max or YellowstonePeacock.
Despite these gaps and the lack of mobile numbers affecting some titles that are young-skewing, the Nielsen metric provides the best third-party streaming information currently available. It remains to see how much regular and raw data will emerge from these still-evolving services. There has been very little.