As a gamer, I’ve noticed that during this year’s upfronts, there’s been a clear theme: everyone, whether they’re established broadcast networks or fresh streaming platforms, are eager to get their hands on the lucrative televised sports industry. Next season, NBC is all set to make a big splash with its new NBA deal, while Netflix and YouTube are set to air exclusive NFL games. It seems like every sports enthusiast will have a documentary dedicated to their favorite corner of fandom!
During the 2024-25 television season, live sports continued to dominate viewership, with the NFL remaining the most popular choice. However, viewers also spent a considerable amount of time watching dramas, comedies, and unscripted series. A number of new shows, such as Matlock, High Potential, and Adolescence, gained significant popularity this season, while established series like Reacher demonstrated their continued value.
Or, in a more conversational tone:
The NFL remained the king of TV ratings during the 2024-25 season, but viewers also found themselves tuning into dramas, comedies, and unscripted series. Some fresh faces, like Matlock, High Potential, and Adolescence, made a big impact, while old favorites like Reacher proved they still had what it takes to captivate audiences.
Wrapping up the September-to-May period, let’s examine the standout players, Rookies of the Year, as well as those who didn’t meet expectations, across various networks and streaming platforms.
For the current television season, ratings data up to May 11 (a seven-day period) has been reported. Meanwhile, the multi-platform statistics (which include various viewing platforms) were last updated in late March, covering a span of approximately 35 days.
ABC
The TV series “MVP” featuring Kaitlin Olson as an intelligent cleaning lady turned police consultant is ABC’s second most watched show (after Monday Night Football). It’s also a massive hit on streaming platforms, sharing the runner-up spot among all network shows in cross-platform ratings for a 35-day period, with over 16 million viewers per episode. This translates to high potential for the show.
As a dedicated gamer, I’ve got to say that Will Trent has truly upped its game this year! In its third season, the show has consistently improved its linear ratings, with an impressive 3% increase each year, reaching approximately 6.82 million viewers in just seven days before streaming. When you count viewers from all platforms over a 35-day period, it jumps to a whopping 11.6 million! That puts Will Trent in the top 17 original series for the season, even including those that stream. It’s clear that this show is leveling up and I can’t wait to see what they bring next!
Struggling to shine: The Bachelor franchise
In contrast to the impressive ratings garnered by “The Golden Bachelor” in 2023, “The Golden Bachelorette” fell short significantly in viewership this year. Similarly, the latest season of “The Bachelor” has seen a double-digit drop in both overall viewers and adults aged 18-49. As off-screen drama unfolds, ABC has postponed this summer’s “Bachelorette” installment and does not currently have “The Bachelor” scheduled for the 2025-26 season (however, “Bachelor in Paradise” and another season of “The Golden Bachelor” are planned for summer and fall).
Apple TV+
Main Focus: The Severance. A gap of three years between seasons is quite extensive, but the show’s fans were eagerly waiting. The thought-provoking narrative outperformed Apple TV+’s series performance since Ted Lasso in 2023, consistently ranking among Nielsen’s top 10 original streaming series for all ten weeks of its season, and even maintaining the position after it concluded.
Potential Breakout Hit: The Studio’s Production. This choice is based more on feel than hard facts. The movie-industry comedy, co-created by and starring Seth Rogen, has garnered excellent reviews and a dedicated fanbase within the industry. However, as of late April, it had yet to appear in Nielsen’s streaming rankings (and Apple does not disclose viewing data for its shows).
CBS
As a dedicated gamer, I can’t help but feel like the star player in my favorite two-season series, featuring the talented Justin Hartley. In both seasons, we’ve been leading the pack among all network shows, excluding sports. Come the 2024-25 season, we’ll be the sole non-sports broadcast show to break through the 10 million viewer mark before streaming, currently sitting pretty at 10.97 million. Over five weeks of cross-platform viewing, our audience swells to a staggering 17.5 million viewers. It’s like leveling up in a game, and I can’t wait to see where this incredible journey takes us next!
Title Contenders: Matlock and Georgie & Mandy’s First Wedding
The Matlock series, spearheaded by Kathy Bates, kicked off strongly and maintained its popularity, garnering over 16 million viewers across various platforms during the season. Georgie & Mandy, a spin-off from Young Sheldon and the third installment in the expanding Big Bang Theory universe, attracted 12.1 million multi-platform viewers, matching its Thursday night companion show, Ghosts, as the most-watched comedies on both broadcast and cable networks.
Minimize fatalities: The Equalizer, FBI: International, and FBI: Most Wanted. Despite their high ratings, these shows might seem like automatic choices for networks other than CBS. However, CBS often cancels the most-watched series annually to cut costs and revitalize its prime-time lineup. Sadly, this year, The Equalizer and both FBI spinoffs bear the unwanted title of being canceled.
Disney+
As a dedicated gamer, I can’t help but feel like I’m on an unbeatable level with “Bluey” dominating the streaming scene! This adorable Australian export has been ruling American kids’ hearts and Nielsen streaming charts since early 2024, maintaining its crown as the most-watched series in the US for over a year now. I can’t believe it dropped out of the top 10 back in September 2022; it’s been an unstoppable force ever since!
Standout star at critical moments: Andor. This critically acclaimed Star Wars series also recorded a record-breaking number of viewing hours during the week of its season two premiere in late April (the latest data available for streaming figures). This surge is beneficial for one of Disney+’s flagship franchises, as it…
Struggling times for Marvel and Star Wars on Disney+: Prior to ‘Andor’, the shows had a challenging run. While ‘Agatha All Along’ consistently appeared on Nielsen’s list of top original streaming shows, peaking in the week of its finale, both ‘Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’ and ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ failed to make an impact during their respective runs. The animated Marvel series, ‘What If …?’, managed to chart once during its third season.
Fox
Doc was both MVP and Rookie of the Year: The medical drama starring Molly Parker saw its audience nearly double (from 2.33 million to 4.6 million viewers) within a week in linear ratings, and then attracted even more viewers through streaming. In February, Fox chose to renew the series, stating that the premiere episode had garnered around 16 million viewers when considering airings on TV, streaming, and delayed viewing over six weeks.
Reduction of rookie lineup: Cancellation: Hi-Surf. Fox took a significant gamble on the Hawaii-based drama about lifeguards, airing it after the NFL season finale in September and initially scheduling it for the viewership-enhancing slot following the Super Bowl. Despite an initial slow start, the network ultimately moved it from Super Bowl Sunday (The Floor was shown there instead). Unfortunately, Hi-Surf was terminated in early May.
HBO/Max
MVP: The White Lotus (Season 3). In Mike White’s series about affluent Americans at a luxury resort turned crime scene, season three set numerous records. It boasted the show’s highest-viewed premiere and finale so far, along with several other first-night highs. As of the day following its April 6 finale, the third season was averaging 16 million viewers across all platforms, a figure that has continued to rise since. HBO calculates cross-platform viewership for their shows over a 90-day period; the finale represented day 49 of this timeframe.
As a gaming enthusiast diving headfirst into the world of digital storytelling, I can’t help but express my excitement over “Rookie of the Year: The Pitt.” This captivating series, set in a high-stakes medical environment, garnered widespread acclaim throughout its 15-episode run, an unusually lengthy order for a streaming show.
The final weeks of the season, extended by one more post-finale episode, managed to secure a spot on Nielsen’s streaming chart. The week its finale premiered, it clocked an impressive 852 million minutes watched, a testament to its gripping narrative and engaging characters.
Hulu
Featured Shows: Only Murders in the Building and The Handmaid’s Tale. Among these two standouts, Only Murders in the Building (OMITB) has consistently been a hit for Hulu, often appearing in the top spots when new episodes are released across its four seasons. Last fall’s season four was no exception, holding a spot among Nielsen’s Top 10 original streaming shows for 11 consecutive weeks. The Handmaid’s Tale, on the other hand, began its final season with a bang, averaging 788 million viewing minutes during its first three weeks – a 42% increase compared to the same period for season five in 2022.
Dan Fogelman’s Rookie of the Year: Paradise” – This riveting series maintained a steady course throughout its six-week run, attracting viewership ranging from 476 million to 566 million minutes in the first five weeks. A significant surge was seen during the final week with a whopping 705 million minutes watched.
Top-tier shows like “Family Guy,” “Bob’s Burgers,” and “The Rookie” (library series), which boast extensive episode libraries, frequently appear in the weekly top 10 for acquired series on streaming platforms. Additionally, many shows that Hulu co-streams with other platforms, such as “Grey’s Anatomy” (Netflix) and “Law & Order: SVU” (Peacock), also consistently rank high.
NBC
The standout choice for our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the Sunday Night Football broadcast. It’s no shock at all that we give this recognition to SNF, as it has consistently held the title of the most-watched primetime network series for an astonishing 14 consecutive seasons – a record unmatched since the inception of Nielsen’s primetime ratings 75 years ago. With viewers tuning in across NBC and Peacock platforms, Sunday Night Football attracted an average of 21.6 million viewers this season.
Rookie Hit of the Week: Happy’s Place
Typically, Friday nights aren’t known for TV ratings triumphs, but that’s changing, and Happy’s Place has managed to carve out a loyal following there. After NBC subtly worked on creating a comedy block in recent seasons, Happy’s Place, featuring Reba McEntire and Belissa Escobedo, attracted a robust 4.54 million viewers before streaming, ensuring its continuation.
Notable Achievements: Dick Wolf
With an impressive track record that stands uncontested, even as his “Chicago” and “Law & Order” series continue their long-running success, they remain consistently popular. Following the popularity of Sunday Night Football, five out of NBC’s seven most-watched programs can be attributed to Wolf (the two weekly editions of The Voice make up the remaining two). To date, these five series have collectively aired an astonishing 1,811 episodes.
Netflix
Feature Presentation: Squid Game’s Second Season. The second installment of this popular Korean series registered the two largest streaming periods during December and January, logging 4.92 billion and 4.6 billion minutes respectively. Over a span of 35 days, it attracted an average of 27.1 million viewers as per Nielsen’s data, making it the most-watched show across all platforms in the year 2024-25. With a promising finale season scheduled for late June, anticipation is high that this will be another blockbuster hit.
This season’s standout television series include “Adolescence”, a captivating British miniseries that has garnered the second spot on Nielsen’s cross-platform list with 19 million viewers over a span of 35 days, and the lighthearted rom-com “Nobody Wants This”, which topped Netflix’s comedy offerings with 15.2 million viewers over a five-week period. In contrast to these shows, “The Residence” has demonstrated remarkable longevity in the weekly streaming rankings. It has consistently ranked for six consecutive weeks, making it the longest-running first-year Netflix show since September.
Paramount+/Showtime
Taylor Sheridan, a highly productive creator and showrunner, has dominated the streaming scene this season with four of his Paramount+ series – “Landman”, “1923”, “Tulsa King” and “Lioness”. Notably, no other producer has managed to maintain such a strong hold on the top spots of a single streaming platform’s rankings. Interestingly, the show that initiated Sheridan and Paramount’s successful partnership, “Yellowstone”, also achieved a record-breaking season on cable’s Paramount Network.
2021’s breakout Paramount+ series, “Sheridan’s West Texas Oil Business” featuring Billy Bob Thornton, was the first to surpass a billion viewing minutes within a single week (the subsequent series 1923 achieved the same later in the season). The show reached its highest point with 1.38 billion minutes of viewership in the week preceding its season finale.
In 2023, I was thrilled to see Yellowjackets make a significant leap in popularity. During its second season, it didn’t even crack the top 10 streaming charts. However, in season three, it managed to do so an impressive four times! To top it off, it had its most-watched season finale globally yet. What a remarkable improvement!
Peacock
The Traitors: High Stakes Competition
In early 2024, the popular competition show hosted by Alan Cumming experienced a significant surge in popularity, outperforming its second season with a notable increase in viewership hours. Remarkably, during this season alone, it managed to make it into the top 10 original streaming series five times, setting new records for the program’s history with those being its biggest weeks on record.
Newcomer’s Best: The Jackal’s Day Out. Despite not making it into the top 10 on Nielsen’s streaming charts, this thrilling film featuring Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch continued to draw viewers, eventually outperforming all other first-year dramas available on Peacock, as reported by the streaming service itself.
Prime Video
As a dedicated gamer, I’ve got to say that Reacher, the series about this towering man played brilliantly by Alan Ritchson, truly made waves in the streaming world with its third season. It consistently drew an impressive average of 18.1 million viewers over a span of 35 days and held a firm position in the top 10 for nine straight weeks.
Star Debuts: Beast Games and Cross. Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson introduced his vast YouTube audience to Prime Video with Beast Games, a competitive series that ran for seven weeks and became one of the platform’s most successful unscripted shows, securing it a two-season extension. Meanwhile, Cross, adapted from James Patterson’s Alex Cross novels and featuring Aldis Hodge, experienced two highly successful weeks following its November binge release, leading to an early renewal for season two.
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2025-05-23 19:37