By far the most broadcast TV show of 2020: ‘The Office’: Nielsen

Amid the acceleration of the streaming wars in 2020, one thing was clear: “The Office” stood head and shoulders above all the other TV shows available on the major subscription video platforms.

Last year, Americans cumulatively aired more than 57 billion minutes of “The Office,” the favorite comedy that originally aired nine seasons on NBC, on Netflix, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen. But Netflix won’t benefit from the Dunder Mifflin gang catalog this year: Beginning January 1, all seasons of “The Office” have been moved exclusively to NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service.

The next biggest show was the previous seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy,” also on Netflix, with around 39.4 billion minutes aired. Indeed, Netflix had a lock on the 10 most watched licensed TV shows, according to Nielsen, with previous seasons of “Criminal Minds”, “NCIS”, “Schitt’s Creek”, “Supernatural”, “Shameless”, ” New Girl ”“ The Blacklist ”and“ Vampire Diaries ”.

Note that the ranking is based on the Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings service, which measures just four services: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Disney Plus.

Among the original series on the Nielsen tracks of SVOD services, Netflix grabbed nine of 10 spots, with “Ozark” in first place. Then come “Lucifer”, “The Crown” and “Tiger King”. The only non-Netflix show was Disney Plus’s “The Mandalorian,” with the hit Star Wars spin-off arriving at # 5.

While “The Office” and other older TV shows recorded the highest viewership for 2020, these titles typically include more episodes than the more recent originals, so it’s no surprise that they overall generate more streaming volume. For example, US viewers watched 30.5 billion minutes of “Ozark” in 2020, which represented a total of 28 episodes. The more than 57 billion minutes of “The Office” took place over 192 episodes.

Meanwhile, on the movie front, Disney Plus’s early release of “Frozen II” topped the most-watched list, followed by “Moana” on Disney Plus and “Secret Life of Pets 2” on Netflix.

One caveat about these numbers: Nielsen estimates are estimated based on viewing on connected TVs, excluding mobile devices and computers. Streaming providers generally do not post viewing numbers. When Netflix touts viewing, for example, it uses a proprietary metric that counts the number of subscribers who have watched at least two minutes of a title.

Also on Tuesday, Nielsen announced the launch of theatrical video on demand (TVOD), a movie release tracking metering service that is directly available for consumers to rent or buy on demand through streaming and streaming platforms. pay television. Nielsen did not specify which platforms would be included in the TVOD measurement service or when exactly it would launch.

Top streaming content of 2020: series acquired

Top Streaming Content of 2020: Original Series

Top Streaming Content of 2020: Movies

Source: Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus and Hulu), Nielsen National TV Panel, US Viewing through Television. U.S. people aged 2 and over, total minutes viewed in 2020 (December 30, 2019 to December 27, 2020)