‘Ted’ Series Debuts on Streaming Top 10 Amid Record Weekend for Peacock

Everyone’s favorite foul-mouthed Teddy Bear is back. A dozen years after the original movie hit theaters, a brand new seven-episode season of “Ted” launched on Peacock. With Seth MacFarlane reprising his role as the title character, the new prequel takes place 15 years before the original. The “Ted” franchise appears to be a winning formula for Peacock, at least initially, landing at No. 6, according to the Samba TV Weekly Wrap Report for the week of Jan. 8 to Jan. 14.

It was a strong week for Peacock overall, as millions of households across the country turned to the first ever exclusively live streamed NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs. The game amassed a record audience. Meanwhile, the inaugural season of “Ted” spinoff series, a Peacock original, is finding success on the streaming leaderboard. What’s next for the franchise remains to be seen — whether that includes a second season or stars like Mark Wahlberg making a comeback.

Back on top for another week is Harlan Coben’s latest thriller “Fool Me Once,” followed by Amazon Prime Video’s second season of “Reacher.” In third is Netflix’s “Lift,” starring Kevin Hart, which chronicles a heist at 10,000 feet on a flight from London to Zurich.

Netflix’s international content continues to land with U.S. audiences, as “Society of the Snow” climbed to No. 4. The film, centered around the Uruguayan 1972 Andes flight, is already generating Oscar buzz for best international feature. It also recently climbed into Netflix’s self-reported list of all-time Top 10 most popular non-English language movies. This week “The Equalizer 3” fell to No. 5, but still managed to notch another week on the leaderboard.

Disney+ had a strong week, with two of its programs landing on the charts, including “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” at No. 7 and “Echo” (also airing on Hulu) at No. 9. “The Brothers Sun” scored No. 8 and Amazon Prime Video’s “Role Play” starring Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo rounded out the final spot.

On broadcast television, “America’s Got Talent: Fantasy League” earned the No. 1 telecast for NBC. The spinoff series has judges Mel B., Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel taking a hands-on approach to the competition, mentoring their own Dream Team. In second is FOX’s “We Are Family,” a musical guessing game competition featuring relatives of celebrities performing with a chance to win a cash prize.

A sneak peak of iconic “Deal or No Deal” spinoff “Deal of No Deal Island” returns next month in a brand new setting. The lure of a private island as well as the snippet airing following the NFL’s wildcard game featuring the Cleveland Browns vs. the Houston Texans was enough to lift the program to No. 3.

FOX News’ live town hall with former President Donald Trump ahead of the Iowa Caucuses was a standout event on linear television this week. The cable news network bested broadcast networks with historically a much larger reach to earn the No. 4 spot.

ABC’s game show “Wheel of Fortune” garnered four telecasts on the leaderboard this week. Finally, rounding out the Top 10 was Brooke Shield’s documentary “Pretty Baby” that explores the supermodel’s childhood and rise to fame. After being released on Hulu last year, the special was also broadcast on ABC.

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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