‘Squid Game’ Climbs Higher on Streaming Chart

Squid Game posted substantial growth in Nielsen’s streaming chart for the second straight week, passing 3 billion minutes of viewing time and far outdistancing any other title in the week of Sept. 27 to Oct. 3.

The Netflix hit chalked up 3.26 billion minutes of watch time, up from 1.91 billion a week earlier. That’s an increase of 71 percent — nothing like the ninefold jump from Squid Game‘s first week to its second, but still a very healthy improvement. The series is the first streaming title since The Crown in November 2020 to pass 3 billion minutes in a single week.

By comparison, the most watched show on traditional TV for Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, NBC’s Sunday Night Football, had about 5.3 billion minutes of viewing time (an average of about 27 million viewers over 196 minutes).

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Netflix’s Midnight Mass also grew in its second week, more than doubling its viewing time to 1.17 billion minutes. The top 10 originals featured entries from all five streaming platforms for which Nielsen releases rankings, with shows from Apple TV+ (Ted Lasso), Hulu (Only Murders in the Building), Amazon’s Prime Video (Goliath) and Disney+ (What If…).

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, and currently only include Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video.

Nielsen’s top streaming series for Sept. 27 to Oct. 3 are below.

Original Series

1. Squid Game (Netflix), 3.26 billion minutes viewed
2. Midnight Mass (Netflix), 1.17 billion
3. Maid (Netflix), 850 million
4. Lucifer (Netflix), 536 million
5. The Great British Baking Show (Netflix), 534 million
6. Sex Education (Netflix), 469 million
7. Ted Lasso (Apple TV+), 455 million
8. Goliath (Prime Video), 359 million
9. The Circle (Netflix), 266 million
10. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu), 263 million

Acquired Series

1. Cocomelon (Netflix), 635 million minutes
2. NCIS (Netflix), 560 million
3. Criminal Minds (Netflix), 525 million
4. Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix), 425 million
5. Heartland (Netflix), 421 million
6. Gilmore Girls (Netflix), 382 million
7. Manifest (Netflix), 337 million
8. Downton Abbey (Netflix), 301 million
9. The Simpsons (Disney+), 284 million
10. Supernatural (Netflix), 283 million

Nov. 4, 9:35 a.m. Added Maid to the top 10 originals list after it initially wasn’t included.