Nielsen’s top 15 streaming programs of 2022 in the United States feature three that were shot in large part in metro Atlanta and all came from Netflix: “Stranger Things,” “Ozark” and “Cobra Kai.”
“Stranger Things” came in No. 1 with 52 billion minutes watched, fueled by the release of season four in the spring. The show spent 19 weeks in Nielsen’s top weekly top 10 rankings for streaming programs from May to September. The fifth and final season has been announced but has not begun production.
The dramatic series “Ozark,” which aired its fourth and final season in 2022 and starred Jason Bateman, Laura Linney and Julia Garner, garnered the second-most minutes watched among original streaming series with 31.3 billion minutes watched.
The “Karate Kid” reboot “Cobra Kai” released its fifth season on Netflix in September and came in No. 15 at 16.7 billion minutes. A sixth and final season is forthcoming.
Streaming grew by 27% in 2022 over 2021 in minutes watched, Nielsen said, as more people use this option over watching scheduled broadcast and cable TV.
The top 15 shows the continued dominance of Netflix even after a rocky year for the streaming service that did end better than it began. Only Disney+ was able to break into the top 15 with “Encanto,” “Bluey,” and “The Simpsons.”
The chart also shows the power of long-running broadcast shows Netflix acquired with a huge library of episodes such as CBS’s “NCIS,” ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” the CWs’ “Supernatural” and NBC’s “Seinfeld.”
Netflix’s “Wednesday” debuted in late November with eight episodes and still managed to jump into the top 15.
No Amazon Prime show made it into the top 15. Its top programs were “The Boys” (10.6 billion minutes) and “The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” at 9.4 billion minutes.
The only movie to make the top 15 is Disney+’s “Encanto” (27.4 billion minutes), far exceeding Disney+’s “Turning Red” (11.43 billion minutes.)
Netflix programs such as “Bridgerton,” “Virgin River,” “Love is Blind”, “Inventing Anna” and “The Crown” finished in top 15 of original streaming programs.
Note: Nielsen only tracks minutes watched on televisions, not on computers or mobile devices.
Overall
1. ‘Stranger Things” (Netflix), 34 episodes, 52 billion minutes viewed
2. “NCIS” (Netflix), 356 episodes, 38.1 billion
3. “Cocomelon” (Netflix), 18 episodes, 37.8 billion
4. “Ozark” (Netflix), 44 episodes, 31.3 billion
5. “Encanto” (Disney+), movie, 27.4 billion
6. “Grey’s Anatomy” (Netflix), 396 episodes, 26.8 billion
7. “Criminal Minds” (Netflix/Hulu/Paramount+), 328 episodes, 24.9 billion
8. “Bluey” (Disney+), 114 episodes, 21.1 billion
9. “Gilmore Girls” (Netflix), 153 episodes, 20.8 billion
10. “Seinfeld” (Netflix), 176 episodes, 19.3 billion
11. “Supernatural” (Netflix), 328 episodes, 18.8 billion
12. “Wednesday” (Netflix), 8 episodes, 18.6 billion
13. “Heartland” (Netflix), 225 episodes, 18 billion
14.. “Cobra Kai” (Netflix), 50 episodes, 16.7 billion
15. “The Simpsons” (Disney+), 667 episodes, 15.9 billion
