‘Leave the World Behind’ Holds Off ‘Barbie’ and ‘Reacher’ to Win Streaming Top 10 | Charts

For the second consecutive week, Netflix’s apocalyptic film “Leave the World Behind” nabbed the top spot in all of streaming, while the return of Amazon’s “Reacher” landed in the second spot on the streaming leaderboard.

Action-oriented series continues to be a winning genre when it comes to the biggest screen in the home. “Reacher” is back on Amazon’s Prime Video, making a strong viewership debut in its second season.

The sophomore season premiere scored 1.3 million U.S. households viewing within the first three days available to stream, according to the Samba TV Weekly Wrap Report for the week of Dec. 11 to Dec. 17.

The second season’s premiere saw more than a 20% increase compared to the prior season opener. Viewership of the series tended to resonate most with older adults, as Baby Boomers (adults aged 65-74) over-indexed by 10% based on the initial three-day viewing window.

Then there was a jolt from “Barbie” which catapulted Max to No. 3 this week. The much-anticipated streaming release of “Barbie” garnered 1.2 million U.S. households in the first four days it was available to stream. That’s more than five times the number of households who watched Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster film live on demand when it first arrived, signaling a strong preference to stream the movie via subscription service rather than rent or buy the film at home.

Of all income earners, higher-income households making over $200,000 over-indexed by 16% in the initial four-day viewing window compared to the average household.

Coming-of-age drama “My Life with the Walter Boys” starring Suits actress Sarah Rafferty took fourth. In fifth this week was “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” streaming on Netflix and VOD.

The second half of “The Crown’s” final season soared into sixth place, as nearly 700,000 U.S. households tuned in to get their final fix of the Royal Family drama within the first four days available on Netflix. While that’s down double digits from the first part of this season (the fifth season premiere saw 778,000 households tuning in within its same four-day initial viewing window), the fascination around another royal scandal may keep the series on the leaderboard for weeks to come. “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” on Paramount+ followed at No. 7.

With families gearing up for the holidays, Christmas programming had another strong week. Amazon Prime Video’s “Candy Cane Lane” and Netflix’s “Family Switch” both topped the charts at No. 8 and No 9, respectively. Rounding out the final spot is “World War II: From the Frontlines” a docu-series unlike any other, with archival stories and footage with accounts on both sides of the conflict.

On broadcast television, NBC’s “The Voice” earned yet another week atop the leaderboard as the remaining contestants battled it out in the semifinals. Two additional telecasts earned spots among the Top 10.

This week’s linear charts also saw several country music specials make the list. At No. 2 was “Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration” airing on CBS, while “CMA Country Christmas” on ABC earned No. 5.

ABC, meanwhile, has aired the beloved “The Sound of Music” musical this time of year for decades, making it a TV event that is highly anticipated around the holidays. The Rodgers & Hammerstein film came in at No. 3 this week. Game show program “Wheel of Fortune” nabbed three telecasts in the Top 10, followed by CBS’ “Survivor.”

Cole Strain is VP and Head of R&D at Samba TV, a WrapPRO partner. Click here for more data and analysis  from Samba TV. 

The Wrap Report provides an exclusive first look at the most watched movies and TV series from the past week across both streaming and linear television sourced from 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.

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