Nielsen Streaming Top 10: ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Drops by 25% to Second Place While Original Animated Series Sees Viewership Bump
“Avatar: The Last Airbender” dropped to the No. 2 position on Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings for Feb. 26-March 3 after debuting on top the week before. During its second week on the chart — its first full week of availability on Netflix — the series was watched for 1.9 billion minutes, a 25% decrease from the prior week’s 2.6 billion minutes.
Comparing last week’s Nielsen chart to Netflix’s own data suggested that “Avatar” had a more successful debut in the U.S. than in other territories. However, both companies’ Top 10s show that the series didn’t have the same staying power as other big-budget Netflix projects, which tend to increase in viewership from their opening weekends to their first full weeks of availability.
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The show did drive renewed interest in the “Avatar” IP, however: Per Nielsen, the animated Nickelodeon series that inspired Netflix’s outing saw a viewership bump during the week of Feb. 26-March 3, when it was watched for 575 million minutes across both Netflix and Paramount+. Though the series did not make the overall Top 10, it was the ninth most watched acquired title of the week.
The No. 1 title of the week was “Love Is Blind,” as Episodes 7-9 of its sixth season were released. The series was watched for 2.1 billion minutes, with Nielsen noting that 43% of viewers fall between ages 18 and 34.
Also notable on this week’s chart is “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” which took fifth place with 847 million minutes watched during this interval. Like “Suits,” which remains near the bottom of the chart to this day after spending months at No. 1 last year, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is a concluded show that was already available on Peacock but is seeing new popularity since being added to Netflix during this interval.
“Aquaman and the Last Kingdom” also had its debut this week after hitting theaters in December and becoming available on Max on Feb. 27. The film landed at No. 8 with 685 million minutes watched.
The rest of the chart was dominated by repeat acquired titles: “Bluey” (1.1 billion minutes), “Young Sheldon” (862 million minutes), “Grey’s Anatomy” (781 million minutes), “Warrior” (693 million minutes), “Suits” (683 million minutes) and “NCIS” (654 million minutes).
See Nielsen’s list of overall streaming rankings for Feb. 26-March 3 first, followed by original streaming titles, acquired titles and then films.
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