Soul, Pixar’s animated film released on Disney + on Christmas Day, made history in Nielsen’s weekly streaming ranking in the United States, finishing first in the week of December 21-27.
With 1,669 billion total minutes of streaming, the movie hit The office, which accumulated 1.435 billion minutes in its last days on Netflix. (Changed this month to NBCUniversal’s Peacock.) Disney also marked its first week with two titles in the top 10. Driven by its end of the second season, The Mandalorian ended in fifth place, with about 1 billion minutes of viewing, after topping the charts the week before in a milestone for Disney +.
Warner Bros. Wonder Woman 1984 it was the other studio release on Christmas Day with a significant streaming presence, of course. While it debuted in theaters, it also debuted on WarnerMedia’s streaming service, HBO Max. Nielsen has yet to begin measuring HBO Max as part of its weekly ratings. WarnerMedia characterized the film’s performance on HBO Max positively, although it did not break specific viewing metrics. Lead AT&T is expected to provide updated subscriber data next week as part of its quarterly earnings report.
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Netflix’s George Clooney Space Drama The midnight sky made a strong showing, finishing 4th with 1.1 billion minutes. The film was close to Bridgerton, which Netflix confirmed this week as the fifth best 28-day artist on a global basis among all its scripted originals. See the complete chart below.
Originally joined for theaters, Soul has become one of dozens of studio releases redirected to streaming and video on demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. Disney has chosen to make it one of the top three releases in 2020, along with Hamilton and Mulan, available only to Disney + subscribers. Soul and Hamilton were free to subscribers, but Mulan had a “primary access” charge of $ 30 in addition to the monthly fee.
With 86.8 million subscribers, Disney + is now in dozens of territories around the world, but Nielsen ratings only track the broadcast from the United States via a TV set, meaning that mobile viewing doesn’t count . The figures also come with a significant built-in delay, compared to TV or movie box office ratings, according to the streaming services being measured.
The office, which smashed all other titles in the 2020 general stream, has been a major force on the weekly charts as Netflix subscribers arrive on their final spree. As of January 1, the sitcom began to air exclusively on NBCUniversal’s Peacock, under a $ 500 million licensing agreement for five years. Peacock offers the first two seasons at its free, ad-supported level, with the remaining seven seasons available at Peacock Premium, which costs $ 5 a month for most subscribers.
So far, Nielsen has only measured Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Disney +, but the measurement company is expected to add Peacock and HBO Max in the coming months.
While the series continues to dominate Nielsen’s streaming rankings, a logical slope given the emphasis on total watch time, a statistic that favors episodic fare, films are taking up more space in streaming. Four of the top ten titles from the most recent week are feature films, with Netflix’s 2020 original Christmas Chronicles 2 and the 2000 Jim Carrey adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas both grabbing holiday eyes.
Netflix plans at least 70 major releases this year, while HBO Max will have the full list of Warner Bros. and Disney also directed some titles for Disney +. Hulu and Amazon Prime Video also participate in the game, but neither has had a high-profile movie title so far, according to Nielsen.
Here is the complete weekly chart:
Soul (Disney +, movie, 1.7 billion minutes)
The office (Netflix, 192 episodes, 1.4B min.)
Bridgerton (Netflix, 8 eps., 1.2B min.)
The midnight sky (Netflix, movie, 1.1B min.)
The Mandalorian (Disney +, 16 eps., 1B min.)
How Grinch Stole Christmas (Netflix, movie, 705M min.)
The crown (40 eps., 700M min.)
Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix, 366 eps., 691M min.)
Christmas Chronicles 2 (Netflix, movie, 660M min.)
Criminal minds (Netflix, 277 eps., 648M min.)