Can Apple TV+ and Hulu Break Netflix’s Hold on Viewers? ‘Believe’ It | Charts

Move over, Netflix: Two streamers joined the viewership leaderboard for the first time in the latest ranking, marking a welcome diversification of the outlets for most-streamed shows.

The third-season premiere of the feel-good comedy-drama “Ted Lasso” launched Apple TV+ to No. 3, while the real-life crime movie “Boston Strangler” starring Kiera Knightley gave Hulu a boost to No. 6 on the Wrap Report for March 15-21.

Audiences clearly got the “believe” message in the Jason Sudeikis-fronted series as it enters what might be its final season. The premiere episode scoring the highest audience numbers for any Apple TV+ original series in the past year, according to the latest numbers tracking the most watched programs across linear TV and streaming, according to viewership trends collected from Samba TV’s panel of more than 3 million households drawn from over 25 million connected TVs, balanced to the U.S. Census. AFC Richmond fans in the U.S. not only helped drive the streamer’s biggest premiere of the year, but also blew past Season 2’s numbers by more than 50%.

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Hulu’s breakout moment for 2023 arrived with the release of “Boston Strangler,” based on the true story of a relentless female reporter Loretta McLaughlin, played by Kiera Knightley, who overcomes gender barriers of the 1960s to break the story of what becomes one of America’s most notorious serial killers alongside a fellow female reporter played by Carrie Coon of “Fargo.” Critics are calling the star-studded Hulu original one of spring’s must-see films.

Meanwhile, Disney+’s Star Wars live-action series “The Mandalorian” rocketed to the No. 1 spot on the leaderboard. The third episode of the show that played a key role in the streaming service’s launch has sat atop the charts since it premiered, proving that audiences still show up for Mando and Grogu.

Season 2 of Netflix’s fantasy series “Shadow and Bone” saw its first three episodes rank among the week’s top 10. The season debut performed toward the middle of the pack of recent fantasy premieres, outperformed by Amazon Prime Video’s “The Rings of Power,” and Netflix’s “The Witcher: Blood Origin,” but pulling ahead of Disney+’s “Willow” as well as the third season opener of “His Dark Materials” streaming on HBO Max.

Surprisingly, the second-season premiere of the “His Dark Materials” performed better with older Millennials and Gen X, while falling short with younger Millennials and Gen Z audiences. The young adult series features a diverse cast of characters with strong Asian representation from lead actor Jessica Mei Li playing character Alina helping to drive Asian household viewership to overindex by 30% compared to the national average.

Netflix has released a handful of buzzy documentaries, including diverse titles that range from “Full Swing” to “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal” this year alone. The latest is the controversial “Money Shot: The Pornhub Story,” which explores allegations of sex trafficking and lawsuits from assault victims as well as the censorship angle from supporters of the portal. While receiving mixed reviews, the documentary landed at No. 4.

Netflix’s “Luther: The Fallen Sun” and “MH370: The Plane That Disappeared,” the limited investigative series about the missing Malaysian Airlines plane, both returned on the most recent most-watched list, coming in at No. 2 and No. 8, respectively. Fans of the crime thriller series “You” are still making their way through Part II of Season 4. Viewers eager to uncover a shocking twist about protagonist Joe Goldberg drove it to No. 9.

On linear broadcast networks, blind auditions drove NBC’s “The Voice” to the most-watched program of the week, while ABC’s talent competition “American Idol” wasn’t far behind, and Queen Latifah’s “The Equalizer” climbed to the No. 2 spot for CBS. Longtime reality series “The Bachelor” and “Survivor” continue to pull in big audiences for ABC and CBS. As bachelor Zach Shallcross narrows down the pool of 30 women to the final three, the longstanding ABC relationship reality television series nabbed the No. 4 spot for the week. In another win for ABC, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” in its 33rd season kept the country laughing all the way to No. 6. Crime dramas “NCIS” (CBS), “East New York” (CBS) and “Station 19” (ABC) rounded out the top 10.

Dallas Lawrence is the SVP and head of communications and brand at Samba TV, a WrapPRO partner. Follow him on Twitter at @DallasLawrence. For more from Samba TV, click here.

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