Netflix dominated streaming in 2022 with the release of huge shows like Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Ozark, but Nielsen’s official Top 15 original streaming shows of the year has shown just how dominant the streamer was and that Wednesday was the real winner of the year despite coming third in the chart.
In the new chart, Stranger Things leads the pack with a whopping 52 billion viewed minutes across its 34 episodes, which includes the release of the mega-sized season 4 episodes in the summer. Behind that comes Ozark, with 31.3 billion minutes, and Wednesday completes the Top 3 with 18.6 billion minutes. The rest of the Top 10 consists of only Netflix shows, such as Cobra Kai, Dahmer, The Crown, and Bridgerton. Only Prime Videos The Boys (position 11) and The Rings of Power (position 15) prevent Netflix from claiming total dominance over the chart.
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However, when breaking down the figures into a per-episode average, Wednesday ruled over the entire streaming world by pulling in 18.6 billion watched minutes across only 8 episodes, giving it an average of 2.3 billion viewed minutes per 45-55 minute episode. Compared to the others on the chart, the average is almost double that of any other per episode percentage. Even Wednesday’s position of number 12 in the overall table, which takes into account all shows, and strangely the Disney movie Encanto, is something special as it is competing with shows like Supernatural (328 episodes), The Simpsons (667 episodes) and Grey’s Anatomy (396 episodes).
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Netflix’s dominance of the streaming chart is proof that Netflix is still the biggest platform, despite competition from the likes of Disney+ with their Marvel and Star Wars offerings, Prime Video and Apple TV+. However, the chart also goes a long way in proving the point made by Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos this week in response to the backlash over the cancelation of shows after only one or two seasons. Sarandos previously said:
While some of the shows that appear in the Top 15 are coming to an end or have ended at Netflix, they have done so after a good run and seem to have come to the end of the story they have to tell. None of the shows on the chart have been part of the massive list of canceled series that many people have complained about, and that pretty much is all the advocacy Sarandos needs to show that he and his team do know what they are doing when it comes to which shows get renewed and which don’t.
“We have never canceled a successful show. A lot of these shows were well-intended but talk to a very small audience on a very big budget. The key to it is you have to be able to talk to a small audience on a small budget and a large audience at a large budget. If you do that well, you can do that forever.”
