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Netflix Scored Most Watched Streaming Shows While Disney Plus Dominated Movies in 2020

Stephanie Sengwe
Stephanie Sengwe is writer based in New York who covers companies in the streaming industry including AT&T, Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Roku, and Netflix . She also contributes daily news coverage on streaming services and devices for The Streamable.
Read full bio ›
Stephanie Sengwe

There may have been a slew of streaming services that launched last year, but it looks like Netflix remains the top dog. A new study by Nielsen revealed that the streaming giant dominated when it came to getting viewers’ eyeballs on TV series.

According to Nielsen, when it came to original series Ozark was the most watched, with 30.5 billion minutes streamed, followed by Lucifer which had 19 billion minutes and The Crown at 16.3 billion minutes. Documentary series Tiger King, which was released at the top of the lockdowns came in at number four, with 15.7 billion minutes streamed.

Netflix’s licensed content was also a major hit, with The Office garnering 57.1 billion minutes streamed, Grey’s Anatomy at 39.4 billon minutes, Criminal Minds with 35.4 billion minutes NCIS with 28.1 billion minutes and Schitt’s Creek with 23.8 billion minutes streamed.

Additionally, Disney+ once again showed itself to be a formidable competitor to Netflix, with The Mandalorian being the only non-Netflix series on the list. The Disney+ original managed to snag 14.5 billion minutes streamed of its own.

Disney+ also managed to not only beat out longstanding services, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, but it also dominated when it came to luring people into watching films. According to Tech Crunch, the Nielsen study found that Disney+ was home to seven of the top ten most watched films last year—with the other three coming from Netflix.

Frozen II had 14.9 billion minutes, Moana, came out with 10.5 billion minutes, The Secret Life of Pets 2, had 9.1 billion minutes, Onward, with 8.4 billion minutes and Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch was streamed 6.2 billion minutes, rounding out the top five.

It is worth noting that the Nielsen findings are based on U.S. viewership only and are also limited to movies and series streamed on TVs. Nielsen also accounted for only Netflix, Disney+, Hulu and Prime Video and not Apple TV+, HBO Max or Peacock.

Stephanie Sengwe
Stephanie Sengwe is writer based in New York who covers companies in the streaming industry including AT&T, Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Roku, and Netflix . She also contributes daily news coverage on streaming services and devices for The Streamable.
Read full bio ›
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