Most Popular Shows on Each Streaming Platform Revealed; ‘Stranger Things,’ ‘Mandalorian’ Lead Way
For the past nine months, data firm Parrot Analytics has been providing Business Insider with monthly rankings of the nine most in-demand original series on streaming services. Now, Insider’s Travis Clark has analyzed that information to determine the most popular original shows on each major streamer since July 2021.
Unsurprisingly, genre programs including Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” Disney+’s “The Mandalorian,” and HBO Max’s “Titans” were the most consistently popular as each of the three shows appeared in every one of the monthly rankings.
While superhero and sci-fi shows dominated the rankings, there were other more-grounded gems that popped up over the past nine months, including Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso,” Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” and Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
Amazon Prime Video
With Prime Video going all-in on genre programming in the coming months, including “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” the fact that two of the service’s three shows to appear in Parrot’s monthly rankings is a sign that their subscribers are beginning to recognize that the platform is a home for more than just discounted retail items.
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The Expanse
December 14, 2015A thriller set two hundred years in the future following the case of a missing young woman who brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.
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The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
March 16, 2017It’s 1958 Manhattan and Miriam “Midge” Maisel has everything she’s ever wanted - the perfect husband, kids, and Upper West Side apartment. But when her life suddenly takes a turn and Midge must start over, she discovers a previously unknown talent - one that will take her all the way from the comedy clubs of Greenwich Village to a spot on Johnny Carson’s couch.
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The Wheel of Time
November 18, 2021Follow Moiraine, a member of the shadowy and influential all-female organization called the “Aes Sedai” as she embarks on a dangerous, world-spanning journey with five young men and women. Moiraine believes one of them might be the reincarnation of an incredibly powerful individual, whom prophecies say will either save humanity or destroy it.
Apple TV Plus
While “Ted Lasso” was Apple’s only entry in the monthly rankings, I would imagine that as the platform begins to hit its stride in terms of originals, shows like “Severance,” “The Afterparty,” and “Pachinko” could begin to crack the list. While many of the other streamers have invested in genre-based programming, Apple TV+ has focused on a more refined, adult content slate that might have a smaller audience, but is likely to engender more critical praise.
Ted Lasso
Ted Lasso, an American football coach, moves to England when he’s hired to manage a soccer team—despite having no experience. With cynical players and a doubtful town, will he get them to see the Ted Lasso Way?
Disney+
Unsurprisingly, all of the Disney+ shows in the monthly rankings come from Star Wars and Marvel. While it is obviously a good thing for the platform to have five shows that aired nearly in succession over the course of an entire year in the rankings, the reliance on these two tentpole franchises could be why Disney CEO Bob Chapek is making moves that seem to be in opposition to the streamer’s initial premise.
By moving “Dancing with the Stars” from ABC to Disney+, and siphoning off content that would normally appear on Hulu, the CEO appears to be looking to broaden the appeal of the formerly family-friendly-only service.
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The Book of Boba Fett
December 29, 2021Legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand must navigate the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate.
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Hawkeye
November 24, 2021Former Avenger Clint Barton has a seemingly simple mission: get back to his family for Christmas. Possible? Maybe with the help of Kate Bishop, a 22-year-old archer with dreams of becoming a superhero. The two are forced to work together when a presence from Barton’s past threatens to derail far more than the festive spirit.
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The Mandalorian
November 12, 2019After the fall of the Galactic Empire, lawlessness has spread throughout the galaxy. A lone gunfighter makes his way through the outer reaches, earning his keep as a bounty hunter.
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Star Wars: The Clone Wars
October 3, 2008Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu and other Jedi Knights lead the Grand Army of the Republic against the droid army of the Separatists.
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WandaVision
January 15, 2021Wanda Maximoff and Vision—two super-powered beings living idealized suburban lives—begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.
Hulu
Perhaps because of its background as a hub for network television programming, Hulu’s shows on Parrot’s monthly rankings run the gambit from a dystopian drama to a tense thriller to a dry comedic mystery. While one could argue whether or not “The Handmaid’s Tale” is considered genre programming, the slate of Hulu’s series on the list does look substantially different when compared to its more sci-fi and superhero-heavy competitors.
However, if the writing on the walls at Disney proves to be true, and Chapek eventually merges all three of the company’s streamers (including ESPN+) into a single service, this diversity of content could prove to be a major differentiator for consumers.
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The Handmaid's Tale
April 26, 2017Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship. A TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel.
This harrowing series features dynamite performances from Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Joseph Fiennes, and Ann Dowd. The show’s first season won 8 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series.
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Nine Perfect Strangers
August 18, 2021At a boutique health-and-wellness resort that promises healing and transformation, nine stressed city dwellers try to get on a path to a better way of living. Watching over them during this 10-day retreat is the resort’s director, Masha, a woman on a mission to reinvigorate their tired minds and bodies. However, these nine “perfect” strangers have no idea what is about to hit them.
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Only Murders in the Building
August 31, 2021Three strangers who share an obsession with true crime suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one.
HBO Max
It stands to reason that the streamer owned (until last Friday) by WarnerMedia would be dominated by DC superhero shows. “Peacemaker” was a breakout critical and audience hit earlier this year, but the pirate comedy “Our Flag Means Death” has been a surprise for the service in recent weeks. However, since it is executive produced and stars Taika Waititi — who has roles both on and off-screen in the DCEU and Marvel Cinematic Universe — it very well might benefit from some of that superhero glean.
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Doom Patrol
February 15, 2019The Doom Patrol’s members each suffered horrible accidents that gave them superhuman abilities — but also left them scarred and disfigured. Traumatized and downtrodden, the team found purpose through The Chief, who brought them together to investigate the weirdest phenomena in existence — and to protect Earth from what they find.
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Our Flag Means Death
March 3, 2022After trading in the seemingly charmed life of a gentleman for one of a swashbuckling buccaneer, Stede Bonnet becomes captain of the pirate ship Revenge. Struggling to earn the respect of his potentially mutinous crew, Stede’s fortunes change after a fateful run-in with the infamous Captain Blackbeard. Stede and crew attempt to get their ship together and survive life on the high seas.
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Peacemaker
January 13, 2022The continuing story of Peacemaker – a compellingly vainglorious man who believes in peace at any cost, no matter how many people he has to kill to get it – in the aftermath of the events of “The Suicide Squad.”
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Titans
October 12, 2018A team of young superheroes led by Nightwing (formerly Batman’s first Robin) form to combat evil and other perils.
Netflix
Thanks in part to the fact that its ability to rely on other studios’ established intellectual property has dwindled significantly over the years, Netflix has invested billions on establishing its own series and franchises, and the diversity of those investments is borne out in this list. The world’s largest streamer is represented by multiple genre shows, international series, thrillers, and more.
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Arcane
November 6, 2021Amid the stark discord of twin cities Piltover and Zaun, two sisters fight on rival sides of a war between magic technologies and clashing convictions.
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Cobra Kai
May 2, 2018This Karate Kid sequel series picks up 30 years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament and finds Johnny Lawrence on the hunt for redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai karate dojo. This reignites his old rivalry with the successful Daniel LaRusso, who has been working to maintain the balance in his life without mentor Mr. Miyagi.
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Lucifer
January 25, 2016Bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar abandoned his throne and retired to Los Angeles, where he has teamed up with LAPD detective Chloe Decker to take down criminals. But the longer he’s away from the underworld, the greater the threat that the worst of humanity could escape.
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Money Heist
May 2, 2017To carry out the biggest heist in history, a mysterious man called The Professor recruits a band of eight robbers who have a single characteristic: none of them has anything to lose. Five months of seclusion - memorizing every step, every detail, every probability - culminate in eleven days locked up in the National Coinage and Stamp Factory of Spain, surrounded by police forces and with dozens of hostages in their power, to find out whether their suicide wager will lead to everything or nothing.
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Ozark
July 21, 2017A financial adviser drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five years to appease a drug boss.
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Squid Game
September 17, 2021Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children’s games—with high stakes. But, a tempting prize awaits the victor.
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Stranger Things
July 15, 2016When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.
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You
September 9, 2018A dangerously charming, intensely obsessive young man goes to extreme measures to insert himself into the lives of those he is transfixed by.
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The Witcher
December 20, 2019Geralt of Rivia, a mutated monster-hunter for hire, journeys toward his destiny in a turbulent world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.
Paramount+
It was a bit surprising to me that “Picard” was the only show from Paramount+ to appear on the monthly rankings over the past nine months given all of the conversation around the “Yellowstone” spin-off “1883.” I would have expected fans of the ever-expanding Taylor Sheridan universe to have pushed that one to the top of the charts.
Paramount execs have mentioned that the show is the most-viewed original series on the platform in terms of viewership, so this might just come down to differences in how Paramount+ and Parrot are analyzing data.
Star Trek: Picard
Set twenty years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, we follow the now-retired Admiral Picard into the next chapter of his life.
Peacock
The NBCU streamer was the only major service to not have an original show appear in Parrot’s monthly top nine dating back to July of last year. However, almost assuredly, “Yellowstone” was one of the most-streamed shows at some point over the past nine months, but since that is not a Peacock original, as it premieres on the Paramount Network, it is not part of these rankings.