Stranger Things, Bluey top Nielsen's H1 2026 most-viewed chart

August 6, 2026 · mediapost.com

Nielsen's measurement of total minutes viewed among persons two and up for the first six months of 2026 placed Stranger Things in first place with 23.3 billion minutes and The Pitt in third with 21.1 billion minutes. Bluey, an Australian Broadcasting Corporation and BBC Studios production airing on Disney Jr., ranked second overall and topped every non-streaming original. Four original streaming shows made the top 20: Stranger Things, The Pitt, Bridgerton at sixth with 17.5 billion minutes, and Landman at 13th with 12.4 billion minutes on Paramount+. Sixteen of the top 20 programs began on national TV networks, among them ABC's Grey's Anatomy in fourth place, CBS's Big Bang Theory in fifth, and Fox's Family Guy and Bob's Burgers in eighth and ninth. NCIS, further down the list, streams across four platforms: Hulu, Netflix, Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Hulu carried nine of the top 20 titles in total, ahead of Netflix and Paramount+ with six each, HBO Max and Peacock with four each, and Pluto TV with three.

Campaigns planned around a single streaming exclusive compete against decades-old broadcast titles that still draw billions of minutes across Hulu, Netflix and Paramount+. NCIS splits its audience across four services, so measurement scoped to one platform captures only a slice of the show's total reach. Nielsen's cross-platform totals give buyers a fuller picture of where two-year-and-up viewing actually lands, and that picture should shape which platforms and titles get budget.