Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ Was America’s Most Streamed Show in 2022

Stranger Things was the program most streamed by Americans last year, audience measurement firm Nielsen revealed(Opens in a new window).

According to Neilsen, Americans streamed more than 19.4 million years of content in 2022, an increase of 27% from the 15 million years they streamed in 2021. 

2022 marked the first year that Nielsen’s tracking that original content out-performed acquired content on streaming services, with Netflix’s own Stranger Things pulling in 52 billion minutes of Americans’ time last year. 

That number is the highest streaming total since 57.1 billion minutes of The Office were streamed in 2020 during the COVID-associated lockdowns. As Neilsen notes, however, Stranger Things only has 34 episodes in comparison to the 192 episodes of The Office.

“Encanto” is the only feature film listed on Neilsen’s Top 15 list of 2022, with the Disney+ animated feature pulling in 27.4 million minutes of views. Despite only being released in November and having just eight episodes, Netflix’s comedy-horror Wednesday raked in 18.6 million minutes of views, meaning it was the twelfth most streamed program by Americans last year. Wednesday ranked as the third most streamed original content, behind Ozark (31.3 million minutes) and Stranger Things.

Titles like NCIS (38.1 million minutes), Grey’s Anatomy (26.8 million), Criminal Minds (24.9 million), Seinfeld (19.3 million), and The Simpsons (15.9 million) proved their enduring popularity last year, with all of them appearing in the Top 15.

Netflix originals and acquired content dominated the streaming list for shows, but Disney+ had ten of the 15 most streamed movies. Friends was HBO Max’s only show to feature on any of Neilsen’s top streaming lists.

Earlier this month, HBO Max announced it was joining other streaming services in raising prices. Starting Jan 12, HBO Max upped the price for its ad-free plan to $15.99 per month, an increase from $14.99.