‘Outer Banks,’ ‘The Last of Us’ Come Up Big in Streaming Rankings

Netflix’s Outer Banks was far and away the most streamed title in Nielsen’s rankings for the week its third season premiered — but viewers’ time wasn’t taken up entirely by the new batch of episodes.

The Last of Us also had another strong showing on HBO Max in the week of Feb. 20-26, leading the acquired series top 10 by a sizable margin. Viewing of its seventh episode accounting for more than a fifth of its total, despite only being available for a few hours of that week.

Outer Banks pulled in 3.15 billion minutes of viewing time for the week of Feb. 20-26, the biggest single-week total of 2023 to date for any title in the Nielsen rankings. Nielsen notes that viewing of the first and second seasons made up almost a third of that total (the rankings include all episodes of a series), an unusually high amount for back episodes of an original show. Typically, prior seasons account for less than 25 percent of viewing time in a week when new seasons of a binge-release show debut.

Netflix also had the No. 2 overall title for the week with its docuseries Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (1.37 billion minutes). The three-part series was released in the midst of the trial of South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh’s murder trial (he was convicted of killing his wife and 22-year-old son on March 2).

The Last of Us had 1.19 billion minutes of watch time for the week on HBO Max (not including any linear viewing on HBO’s cable channels). Nielsen says 22 percent of that total — some 261 million minutes — was for the show’s seventh episode, which debuted the night of Feb. 26 and only had a few hours to accumulate viewing before the weekly charts closed. The 261 million minutes of viewing equates to an average about 4.75 million HBO Max accounts watching the episode on HBO Max Sunday night (linear ratings for the cable channel had 1.08 million people watching the first airing).

The majority of the show’s watch time for the week — 64 percent, or about 760 million minutes — was for the Feb. 19 episode as viewers caught up. The rest was for the other five installments available at that time.

Netflix’s We Have a Ghost was the most streamed movie for the week, ranking fourth overall with 930 million minutes of viewing.

Nielsen’s streaming ratings cover viewing on TV sets only and don’t include minutes watched on computers or mobile devices. The ratings only measure U.S. audiences, not those in other countries. The top streaming titles for Feb. 20-26 are below.

Overall

1. Outer Banks (Netflix), 3.15 billion minutes viewed
2. Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal (Netflix), 1.37 billion
3. The Last of Us (HBO Max), 1.19 billion
4. We Have a Ghost (Netflix), 930 million
5. Cocomelon (Netflix), 884 million
6. New Amsterdam (Netflix/Peacock), 850 million
7. NCIS (Netflix), 808 million
8. Perfect Match (Netflix), 805 million
9. You (Netflix), 797 million
10. Bluey (Disney+), 789 million

Original Series

1. Outer Banks, 3.15 billion minutes
2. Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, 1.37 billion
3. Perfect Match, 805 million
4. You, 797 million
5. Physical: 100 (Netflix), 429 million
6. Poker Face (Peacock), 423 million
7. Full Swing (Netflix), 372 million
8. Triptych (Netflix), 320 million
9. Ginny & Georgia (Netflix), 300 million
10. Wednesday (Netflix), 284 million

Acquired Series

1. The Last of Us, 1.19 billion minutes
2. Cocomelon, 884 million
3. New Amsterdam, 850 million
4. NCIS, 808 million
5. Bluey, 789 million
6. South Park (HBO Max), 704 million
7. Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix), 675 million
8. The Walking Dead (Netflix), 573 million
9. The Big Bang Theory (HBO Max), 547 million
10. Gilmore Girls (Netflix), 518 million