Topline
The popular children’s cartoon “Bluey” has been streamed for more than 25 billion minutes so far this year and outranks some of streaming’s most popular new shows—including “Squid Game,” “Reacher” and “The Night Agent”—on a recently released Nielsen list of the year’s most-streamed programs.
Bandit, Chilli. Bluey and Bingo.
“Bluey,” which has more than 150 episodes available to watch on Disney+, has been viewed for 25.06 billion minutes since Dec. 29, according to Nielsen.
The show, an animated series produced by Australia-based Ludo Studio about a family of dogs, was the most popular watch of any original or acquired title across a dozen streaming platforms, Nielsen said, and beat out viral new hits like “Squid Game” to reign supreme.
Nielsen’s latest data shows that kids programming is a gold mine for streamers, with "Spongebob Squarepants” and its 323-episode library ranking No. 6 among the year's most-streamed shows, with 16.7 billion viewing minutes on Paramount++.
Six of the top nine most-streamed movies of the year so far are children's titles, and they accounted for 10 of the top 20 overall.
“Moana 2,” "Despicable Me 4,” "Moana" and “"The Wild Robot" were all among the top 5 most-streamed movies.
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- "Bluey" — 25.1 billion minutes viewed
- "Grey's Anatomy" — 22.6 billion minutes viewed
- "NCIS" — 19.1 billion minutes viewed
- "Family Guy" — 19 billion minutes viewed
- "Bob's Burgers" — 17.1 billion minutes viewed
- “Spongebob Squarepants" — 16.7 billion minutes viewed
- "The Big Bang Theory" – 16.6 billion minutes viewed
- "The Rookie" — 15.6 billion minutes viewed
- "Squid Game" — 15 billion minutes viewed
- "Law & Order: SVU" — 14.5 billion minutes viewed
- "Reacher" – 13.3 billion minutes viewed
- "American Dad!" — 13 billion minutes viewed
- "Criminal Minds" — 12.6 billion minutes viewed
- "The Night Agent" — 12.2 billion minutes viewed
- "Supernatural" — 11.9 billion minutes viewed
- "The White Lotus" — 11.5 billion minutes viewed
- "Friends" — 11.4 billion minutes viewed
- "Gunsmoke" — 11 billion minutes viewed
- "Young Sheldon" — 10.6 billion minutes viewed
- "South Park" — 10.5 billion minutes viewed
- "Moana 2" — 7.2 billion minutes viewed
- "Despicable Me 4" — 6.2 billion minutes viewed
- "Back In Action" — 5.3 billion minutes viewed
- "Moana" — 3.8 billion minutes viewed
- "The Wild Robot" — 3.8 billion minutes viewed
- "Sonic The Hedgehog 2" — 3.7 billion minutes viewed
- "The Electric State" — 3.3 billion minutes viewed
- "Wicked" — 3.2 billion minutes viewed
- "Frozen" — 3.1 billion minutes viewed
- "The Accountant 2" — 3 billion minutes viewed
- "Kraven The Hunter" — 2.97 billion minutes viewed
- "Gladiator II" — 2.8 billion minutes viewed
- "Twisters" — 2.78 billion minutes viewed
- "Nonnas" — 2.734 billion minutes viewed
- "Mufasa: The Lion King" — 2.73 billion minutes viewed
- "The Life List" — 2.69 billion minutes viewed
- "Super Mario Bros. Movie" — 2.66 billion minutes viewed
- "Straw" — 2.65 billion minutes viewed
- "Encanto" — 2.62 billion minutes viewed
- "Lilo & Stitch" (2002) — 2.61 billion minutes viewed
- That's how many episodes have been released of "The Night Agent" on Netflix, giving it the smallest episode library of any show on the most-popular list. While some of the most popular shows on streaming have massive episode libraries like "Gunsmoke," "Grey's Anatomy," "NCIS" and "Family Guy," all of which have more than 400 episodes each, several series punched above their weight to score their spots on the top 20 list, including "The White Lotus," (21 episodes), "Squid Game" (22) and "Reacher" (24).
"Gunsmoke," the longest running Western on television, which ended its 20-season run in 1975, broke into the top 20 most-streamed shows, beating "Young Sheldon" and "South Park." The series, which stars the iconic character U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon, was added to Paramount Global's Pluto TV and Peacock streaming services earlier this year. The popularity of “Gunsmoke” is thanks in part to a resurgence in Westerns brought about by “Yellowstone” and in part because of its feel-good lead with a strong moral compass, Neal Sabin, vice chairman of Weigel Broadcasting, told the Los Angeles Times. “Matt Dillon represents a lot of what we don’t have right now,” Sabin said.
“Gunsmoke” may be one of the oldest television shows to enjoy a streaming resurgence, but it isn’t the first to make a comeback long after its original run ended. “Friends,” which is this year's 17th most-watched show so far and commonly ranks among the most popular on modern streaming platforms, ended 21 years ago. "The Office” (ended in 2013) and "Parks and Recreation" (ended in 2015) are commonly streamed “comfort shows,” as are 90s hits "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "The X Files."