Los Angeles, CA – Netflix has begun the year 2024 with a massive success as its series “Fool Me Once” garnered more than 3 billion minutes of viewing during its opening week. The thriller, based on Harlan Coben’s novel, dominated Nielsen’s streaming charts for the week of January 1-7, receiving the highest viewership for a streaming show since August.
“Fool Me Once” outperformed every other series by a significant margin. The Prime Video show “Reacher” came in second place with 1.38 billion minutes of watch time during the week. Nielsen also revised “Reacher’s” total viewership for the previous two weeks, which now stands at just under 6 billion minutes since the show’s second season premiered in mid-December.
Netflix’s “The Brothers Sun” also made a strong debut, attracting 696 million minutes of viewing and securing fourth place among original series. “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” on Disney+ continued to perform well with 627 million minutes of watch time. Meanwhile, Dave Chappelle’s latest stand-up special on Netflix, “The Dreamer,” claimed the ninth spot with 376 million minutes of viewing. Hulu’s “The Act” rounded out the top ten with 317 million minutes of watch time due to renewed interest in Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s story following the release of a Lifetime docuseries about her.
Among acquired series, “Young Sheldon” remained at the top for the month of December 2023, accumulating 1.37 billion minutes of watch time on Max and Netflix. On the movie front, “The Equalizer 3” took the lead with 1.02 billion minutes viewed after making its streaming premiere.
It is worth noting that Nielsen’s streaming ratings only account for viewership on TV sets and do not include minutes watched on mobile devices or computers. Additionally, the ratings exclusively reflect U.S. audiences.
Overall, Netflix continues to demonstrate its dominance in the streaming space with “Fool Me Once” capturing viewers’ attention and setting an impressive viewership record. The success of the show indicates the continued popularity and increasing influence of streaming platforms in the entertainment industry.