If you asked ten Americans to name the day they started taking the coronavirus seriously, I wager a majority would answer “March 11,” when Tom Hanks revealed that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Ever since, non-essential businesses across the country have closed and stay-at-home orders were issued, so it’s no wonder that streaming services have seen a spike in viewership. Everyone was (hopefully safely) at home.
“Time spent on streaming platforms grew by 34 percent over two weeks at the beginning of March, with collective usage going from 116.4 billion minutes the week of March 2 to 156.1 billion in the week of March 16,” according to the Hollywood Reporter, using data from Nielsen. “The total for March 16-22 was more than double that of the same week in 2019.” Netflix claimed the biggest slice of the streaming pie, with 45.4 billion minutes logged during the week of March 16 (although the figure is even higher, as Nielsen’s data doesn’t include “viewing devices other than television sets”), followed by Hulu and Amazon. Netflix also had the single most-watched program, and much of the top 10.
The Netflix movie Spenser Confidential was the most-viewed program on streaming in the week of March 16, with users spending 1.25 billion minutes on the Mark Wahlberg-led drama. Five other original programs — Netflix’s On My Block (1.14 billion minutes), Love Is Blind (872 million), The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez (572 million) and Altered Carbon (425 million) and Amazon’s Hunters (612 million) — make the top 10. The Office on Netflix was second overall with 1.23 billion minutes streamed; other shows in the top 10 are Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy, and NCIS.
1.23 billion minutes for The Office in a week! That’s millions of minutes more than an average week. I guess people are finding comfort in… drab office complexes? Also, the only thing people love more than Mark Wahlberg movies with Post Malone is freaking NCIS. Never underestimate how popular NCIS is among dads.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)
