We already have unofficial (but very reliable) annual estimates of the most watched in streaming that Nielsen performs every year. And in 2024, the most seen has been … the usual. What forces us, without a doubt, to reflect: how is it possible that the most viewed series of the year are not the most spoken, and the most viewed platforms are not the ones that receive the most owners? Actually, the explanation is very simple.
The most watched programs. According to the reportthe most seen 2024 programs have been the ‘Bluey’ animation series, with 55,620 million minutes in Disney+, and ‘Grey Anatomy’, with 47,850 million minutes (in the US, Hulu and Netflix). More animation, but it is for adults, cup the following positions: ‘Family father’ (44.2 billion minutes) and ‘Bob’s Burger’ (36,800). The top continues with series such as ‘The young Sheldon’, his mother series ‘Big Bang Theory’, some procedures with ‘Law and Order: Unit of Special Victims’ and ‘Criminal minds’, and closing the circle of the series for all public, ‘spongebob’.
Ironies of life. A list that undoubtedly attracts attention. Where are that ‘my teddy reindeer’, that ‘the problem of the three bodies’, those franchises of ‘Dune’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ that we all talk about? The first place with an exclusive product of a platform (everything on the list above is acquisitions) is ‘Los Bridgerton’ by Netflix, in 12th place, with 21,420 million minutes, followed by ‘Love Is Blind’, also of Netflix. With figures above 10,000 million minutes are ‘The Boys’. ‘Lincoln’s lawyer’, ‘Fallout’ (this was the new most viewed series among the exclusive streaming), ‘Futurama’, ‘Decoños’,’ Evil, ‘The Gabby doll house’ and ‘Reacher’.
Simple explanations. This absence in the top 10 of successes of the most media and recent series has a logical explanation: the streaming It has become an active way to fill out leisure hours, but an accompaniment at home, which has replaced options for the past such as radio, music players or linear television itself. He streaming as “background noise” It is no longer a rarity, and therefore, however extravagant that sounds on paper, no one has missed that Netflix looks for series that in his dialogues “Explain what is happening”to be able to follow them without paying them attention.
Long series, more hours. And on the other hand, there is the obvious reason that the more available footage, more hours of viewing they can accumulate. ‘Fallout’, in the best case, has eight episodes of approximately one hour: eighty hours per speaker. On the contrary, ‘anatomy of Gray’ cam 21 seasons of around twenty episodes each. And often, they are independent episodes that do not require constant attention. It is normal for these series to attract less attention but accumulate much more robust figures.
Children have power. Finally children: the ten most viewed films of the year in streaming They have been almost all of animation: ‘Vaiana’, ‘Super Mario Bros.: The movie’, ‘Trolls 3: All together’, ‘Los Minions’, ‘Chark’, ‘Frozen’, ‘The Canine Patrol: The movie’ , ‘The upside down’ and ‘Baby boss’. The only exception is ‘Red One’, also oriented to the family. If we add to that the privileged position of ‘Bluey’ as the most watched program of the year on any channel and the obvious preeminence of Disney+ among the most viewed platforms, the equation is clear: children send, but not necessarily with productions of latest batch ( ‘The minions’ is from 2015 and ‘Vaiana’, of 2016). Again, figures outside the millionaire media movements of the platforms.
La Puntilla, ‘Night agent’. And there is another element that contributes a nuance: the ‘Night Agent’ series, whose second season has debuted with 13.9 million views in its first four days. Thus, the monumental success of the first continues, which in 2023 almost reached 100 million views in its first 90 days in Netflix, and became the seventh most viewed of the English platform. And why is one more nuance to what we are talking about? For the surprising “normality” of the series, away from more creative, artistic or risky productions that mediately state on the platform, such as ‘the squid game’.
The triumph of Normies. With the success of the first season of ‘Night Agent’ there was talk of how surprising that he had razed such an anodine appearance. The critic Miles Surrey has recently defined it As “the Platonic ideal” of a Netflix series, or even refining more, a “hamburger with gourmet cheese”, that is, a series that combines accessibility and quality, a kind of stone Rosetta of success, which he shares with this rest of the series that have triumphed in recent months. And no one can doubt the quality and attractiveness for the masses of ‘Bluey’, ‘Big Bang Theory’ or ‘Gray Anatomy’, those commercial diamonds that, one more year, crowned the most watched lists.
In Xataka | After years trying to conquer cinemas, Netflix wants to release only in streaming. And Hollywood didn’t like a hair
Add Comment