Stranger Things Claims #1 Spot as Nielsen Reveals Most Streamed Movies & Series of 2026 So Far

Cr. Courtesy of Netflix/Netflix © 2025

It’s that time of the year again! Nielsen has just released its massive mid-year streaming report, giving us a comprehensive look at what US audiences (on connected devices) were watching on their televisions during the first half of 2026 (December 29, 2025, to June 28, 2026).

Here at What’s on Netflix, we love nothing more than digging into the data to see how the big red N stacks up against the competition. After all, viewing habits are shifting, and rival streamers are constantly trying to eat into Netflix’s massive market share. 

Of course, this data is limited and just covers the first half of the year. If you want to dig through Netflix’s own data for the first half, you can use our Netflix Engagement Report tool here.

So, what stood out for Netflix? Where did they completely dominate, and where are the cracks starting to show? Let’s break down the 1H 2026 Nielsen top 20s.

Overall Viewership: Stranger Things Keeps the Crown

Nielsen 1H 2026 Overall Top 20:

1. Stranger Things (Netflix) – 23.261B minutes
2. Bluey (Disney+) – 22.809B minutes
3. The Pitt (HBO Max) – 21.118B minutes
4. Grey’s Anatomy (Hulu / Netflix) – 20.414B minutes
5. Big Bang Theory (HBO Max) – 20.404B minutes
6. Bridgerton (Netflix) – 17.148B minutes
7. Spongebob Squarepants (Paramount+) – 16.894B minutes
8. Family Guy (Hulu) – 15.957B minutes
9. Bob’s Burgers (Hulu) – 15.013B minutes
10. Paw Patrol (Prime Video / Paramount+) – 13.559B minutes
11. Criminal Minds (Hulu / Paramount+) – 13.145B minutes
12. The Rookie (Hulu) – 12.817B minutes
13. Landman (Paramount+) – 12.400B minutes
14. Law & Order: SVU (Hulu / Peacock) – 11.952B minutes
15. NCIS (Hulu / Netflix / Paramount+ / Pluto TV) – 11.870B minutes
16. Law & Order (Hulu / Peacock) – 11.387B minutes
17. The Closer (Netflix / Peacock / Pluto TV) – 11.346B minutes
18. The First 48 (Hulu / Peacock / Pluto TV) – 11.334B minutes
19. Young Sheldon (HBO Max / Netflix / Paramount+) – 10.905B minutes
20. Friends (HBO Max) – 10.560B minutes

The Breakdown:

• The Hawkins Effect: Unsurprisingly, Stranger Things took the absolute top spot (knicking away the top prize from Bluey) across all of streaming with a gargantuan 23.26 billion minutes viewed. That’s down from the second half of 2025, given that the final season was released across three parts from November through New Year’s (39.95B minutes), but still showed that many people had to catch up throughout January and beyond. 
• Bridgerton Holds Strong: Bridgerton proved its incredible staying power, landing at #6 overall. 
• NCIS Takes a Tumble: Last year, NCIS was a monster at #4 overall (36.9B mins). Fast forward to 1H 2026, and it has fallen sharply to #15 (11.87B mins).
• The Missing Exclusives: Outside of its originals, Netflix didn’t have a single exclusive licensed title in the overall top 20. Shows like Bluey and The Big Bang Theory prove that legacy libraries on competing platforms are incredibly sticky. Netflix is heavily reliant on co-licensed hits like Grey’s Anatomy and NCIS to stay on this board, but they just chew up hours. 

Original Series: Netflix Dominates, But HBO Max Crashes the Party

Picture Credit: Netflix

Nielsen 1H 2026 Original Series Top 20:

1. Stranger Things (Netflix) – 23.261B minutes
2. The Pitt (HBO Max) – 21.118B minutes
3. Bridgerton (Netflix) – 17.148B minutes
4. Landman (Paramount+) – 12.400B minutes
5. The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix) – 10.533B minutes
6. The Boys (Prime Video) – 9.597B minutes
7. The Night Agent (Netflix) – 8.817B minutes
8. Ms Rachel (Netflix) – 8.597B minutes
9. Fallout (Prime Video) – 7.983B minutes
10. His & Hers (Netflix) – 7.845B minutes
11. The Traitors (Peacock) – 7.737B minutes
12. Virgin River (Netflix) – 7.687B minutes
13. Love Island USA (Peacock) – 7.622B minutes
14. Paradise (Hulu) – 5.660B minutes
15. One Piece (Netflix) – 5.658B minutes
16. Love Is Blind (Netflix) – 5.541B minutes
17. Invincible (Prime Video) – 5.313B minutes
18. Veronica Mars (Hulu / Netflix) – 5.288B minutes
19. Gabby’s Dollhouse (Netflix / Prime Video) – 5.253B minutes
20. Shrinking (Apple TV) – 5.246B minutes

The Breakdown:

• Depth of the Bench: Netflix took 11 of the top 20 spots here. Behind Stranger Things and Bridgerton, Netflix saw massive returns from reliable workhorses like The Lincoln Lawyer, The Night Agent, and Virgin River. Interestingly, though, nearly all of these shows are coming to an end or have ended, so what replaces them? That’s a big question… 
• Kids Deliver: Netflix’s pickup of Ms Rachel continues to pay off in spades, rocketing to #8 with 8.5 billion minutes across only 8 episodes! The series always dominates in the Netflix top 10s where views are king, but that’s because it usually comes packaged up in small episode counts, but this shows that audiences are gobbling up 
• Is the competition catching up? This is the big shocker. HBO Max’s The Pitt took the #2 spot with an eye-watering 21.1 billion minutes viewed, while Paramount+ struck gold with Taylor Sheridan’s Landman (#4). Netflix usually dominates the top 5 uncontested, but the gap is closing as other streamers figure out their prestige formulas, though their catalogs are usually much more top-heavy than Netflix’s librayr. 

General Audience Movies: An Absolute Bloodbath (in Netflix’s Favor)

THE RIP. (L to R) Ben Affleck as Det Sergeant JD Byrne and Matt Damon as Lieutenant Dane Dumars in The Rip. Cr. Warrick Page/Netflix © 2025.

Nielsen 1H 2026 Gen Aud Movies Top 20:

1. The Rip (Netflix) – 4.432B minutes
2. War Machine (Netflix) – 3.531B minutes
3. Jurassic World Rebirth (Peacock / Netflix) – 3.395B minutes
4. The Wrecking Crew (Prime Video) – 2.946B minutes
5. The Crash (Netflix) – 2.689B minutes
6. Remarkably Bright Creatures (Netflix) – 2.623B minutes
7. Apex (Netflix) – 2.535B minutes
8. Sinners (HBO Max) – 2.509B minutes
9. Anaconda (2025) (Netflix) – 2.331B minutes
10. The Running Man (2025) (Paramount+) – 2.307B minutes
11. One Battle After Another (HBO Max) – 2.304B minutes
12. People We Meet on Vacation (Netflix) – 2.298B minutes
13. Joe’s College Road Trip (Netflix) – 2.191B minutes
14. Maternal Instinct (Netflix) – 1.995B minutes
15. How To Train Your Dragon (2025) (Peacock / Netflix) – 1.944B minutes
16. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War (Prime Video) – 1.939B minutes
17. Harry Potter: Sorcerer’s Stone (Peacock / HBO Max) – 1.923B minutes
18. Crime 101 (Prime Video) – 1.807B minutes
19. Thrash (MV 2026) (Netflix) – 1.766B minutes
20. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix) – 1.708B minutes

The Breakdown:

• Streaming Movies Still Make Sense? If there is one area where Netflix entirely humiliated the competition, it was feature films. Netflix holds 13 of the 20 spots. They took the top two spots easily with The Rip and War Machine, and dominated the mid-tier with original adaptations like Remarkably Bright Creatures and People We Meet on Vacation. While much is made about Netflix still not being all in on theatrical, it does show that streaming movie debuts certainly do have more pull in viewing minutes and the argument that big box office translates to big streaming numbers isn’t quite as compelling as some make it out to be. 
• Pay 1 Window Wins: Shared theatrical streaming windows continue to be a massive boon. Jurassic World Rebirth (#3) and How to Train Your Dragon (#15) both shared with Peacock (this deal kicked in a year early). There’s just one Sony movie here: Anaconda, although expect the second half of the year to be much stronger from both studios. 

Kids Movies: Holding the Line Against the House of Mouse

Nielsen 1H 2026 Kids Movies Top 20:

1. Zootopia 2 (Disney+) – 6.535B minutes
2. KPOP Demon Hunters (Netflix) – 5.589B minutes
3. Zootopia (Disney+) – 3.358B minutes
4. Goat (Netflix) – 3.299B minutes
5. Swapped (Netflix) – 2.963B minutes
6. Super Mario Bros. Movie (Netflix) – 2.893B minutes
7. Cars (Disney+) – 2.718B minutes
8. Hoppers (Disney+) – 2.435B minutes
9. A Minecraft Movie (HBO Max) – 2.367B minutes
10. Frozen (Disney+) – 2.365B minutes
11. The Bad Guys 2 (Netflix) – 2.272B minutes
12. Toy Story (Disney+) – 2.252B minutes
13. Paw Patrol: The Movie (Paramount+) – 2.147B minutes
14. Minions: The Rise of Gru (Netflix) – 2.124B minutes
15. Moana (Disney+) – 2.118B minutes
16. Spider-Man Into The Spiderverse (Netflix) – 2.096B minutes
17. Toy Story 3 (Disney+) – 2.062B minutes
18. Paw Patrol: Mighty Movie (Paramount+) – 2.015B minutes
19. Moana 2 (Disney+) – 1.904B minutes
20. Encanto (Disney+) – 1.870B minutes

The Breakdown:

• Netflix Animation is Thriving: Historically, Disney+ has a total stranglehold on Kids’ movies, and while they took 9 spots here, Netflix put up an incredibly strong fight. Netflix claimed 7 spots, led by their in-house animated juggernaut KPOP Demon Hunters at #2 (5.58B minutes).
• The Illumination Effect: Netflix continues to reap the rewards of the Illumination/Universal deal, with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, The Bad Guys 2, and Minions: The Rise of Gru pulling billions of minutes.

Acquired Series: The Missing Puzzle Piece

Picture: ABC

Nielsen 1H 2026 Acquired Series Top 20:

1. Bluey (Disney+) – 22.809B minutes
2. Grey’s Anatomy (Hulu / Netflix) – 20.414B minutes
3. Big Bang Theory (HBO Max) – 20.404B minutes
4. Spongebob Squarepants (Paramount+) – 16.894B minutes
5. Family Guy (Hulu) – 15.957B minutes
6. Bob’s Burgers (Hulu) – 15.013B minutes
7. Paw Patrol (Prime Video / Paramount+) – 13.559B minutes
8. Criminal Minds (Hulu / Paramount+) – 13.145B minutes
9. The Rookie (Hulu) – 12.817B minutes
10. Law & Order: SVU (Hulu / Peacock) – 11.952B minutes
11. NCIS (Hulu / Netflix / Paramount+ / Pluto TV) – 11.870B minutes
12. Law & Order (Hulu / Peacock) – 11.387B minutes
13. The Closer (Netflix / Peacock / Pluto TV) – 11.346B minutes
14. The First 48 (Hulu / Peacock / Pluto TV) – 11.334B minutes
15. Young Sheldon (HBO Max / Netflix / Paramount+) – 10.905B minutes
16. Friends (HBO Max) – 10.560B minutes
17. American Dad! (Hulu) – 10.264B minutes
18. The Simpsons (Disney+ / Hulu) – 10.188B minutes
19. Modern Family (Hulu / Peacock) – 9.765B minutes
20. Survivor (Paramount+) – 9.362B minutes

The Breakdown:

• Hulu’s Dominance: If there’s a weak spot in Netflix’s US strategy right now, it’s licensed television. Hulu took an insane 11 of the 20 spots here, riding the wave of adult animation and procedural mainstays that it’s built up over a long period of time. 
• Big Libraries Dominate: Netflix, naturally, is entirely reliant on shared titles in this category. With Suits falling off the map this year, Netflix is missing that massive, exclusive licensed comfort-binge that keeps subscribers endlessly scrolling. The Walking Dead deal shows that Netflix does believe that long-term housing of big series with lots of viewing hours to chew up has value, but in the case of that show, it’s already on Netflix in the US so doesn’t quite work. Interestingly, Netflix does license many of these shows in other territories. 

The Verdict

The first half of 2026 is strong for Netflix but does show some weakness in Netflix’s upcoming slate and the fact it doesn’t have big library content right now. Stranger Things remains an untouchable cultural phenomenon but will be hard to replace, and their General Audience movie pipeline kind of proves that it’s still beneficial to keep releasing movies (even if their output has fell dramatically). Furthermore, their investments in original animation (KPOP Demon Hunters) and kids’ programming (Ms Rachel) are paying off brilliantly and they need to keep doubling down here.

However, the days of Netflix having no peers in the original series department are officially over. HBO Max’s The Pitt and Paramount’s Landman putting up staggering numbers, Netflix will need to ensure its next wave of original dramas can go toe-to-toe with traditional prestige TV.

What have you been watching on Netflix in 2026 so far? Let us know in the comments down below!