Despite Apple TV+ having the fewest subscribers of the main streamers, its "Ted Lasso" hit was watched far more in 2023 than any other streaming show.
"Ted Lasso"
Streaming ratings are usually harder to parse than they ever were with network television, because viewers can be watching any or all episodes that are available. But if the ratings can't prove one episode is more popular than another, they have previously shown that "Ted Lasso" hit a season high in April 2023.
In one week during that month, a very impressive 795 million minutes of "Ted Lasso" was watched. Now according to Deadline, the Nielsen ratings figure for the show during whole of 2023 was 16.9 billion minutes.
The show's finale alone topped 1 billion minutes in a single week. Reportedly, viewing of "Ted Lasso" was more a case of steady watching through the year, rather than many spikes in viewership.
By the end of the year, though, this Apple TV+ comedy lead Nielsen's top ten original shows, with Netflix's "The Night Agent" in second place with a comparatively mere 14.4 billion minutes. Overall, Netflix took most of the top ten, ceding only "Ted Lasso," Amazon Prime's "Jack Ryan," and Disney+ hit "The Mandalorian."
As well as charting what it calls original shows, Nielsen also reports ratings for acquired ones, which means existing films and TV series. Of those, the most-streamed series was "Suits," the old USA Network lawyer drama, of which 57.7 billion minutes were watched in 2023.