'Reacher' Had 1.5 Billion Minutes Watched in August; Ted Lasso Came in 2nd

The fourth season of Reacher topped the streaming rankings in the United States during the week of August 10 to 16, according to data from Nielsen. The Prime Video series starring Alan Ritchson racked up 1.5 billion minutes viewed across all seasons, but 79% of that total, about 1.19 billion minutes, came from just the three episodes of the new season released on August 12.

The fourth season premiere was not as strong as the previous ones, which posted between 1.69 billion and 1.84 billion minutes, but it still marks the series’ fifth-best performance in the Nielsen rankings.

Ted Lasso, from Apple TV, and Lioness, from Paramount+, came in just below the 1 billion mark, with 996 million and 955 million minutes, respectively. Both improved compared with the previous week, and Lioness reached its highest weekly total so far. The teen series My Life with the Walter Boys, from Netflix, with 935 million, and Sterling Point, from Prime Video, with 401 million, also grew after their season premieres.

The Big Bang Theory hit its fifth consecutive week above 1 billion minutes, leading the acquired series rankings with 1.09 billion. The Simpsons appeared in the top 10 for the first time since 2024, with 484 million minutes on Hulu and Disney+.

One notable absence was Shards, from FX, whose third and fourth episodes premiered on August 12. Because the series airs on FX in addition to streaming on Hulu, it can be classified as acquired, which raises the bar for making the top 10. Love Story also did not appear on any Nielsen list earlier this year, even though FX released its numbers, likely for the same reason. The only recent series produced by FX to make the streaming rankings were The Bear, Alien: Earth and Shōgun, all classified as originals.

In the film rankings, The Last House, from Netflix, repeated in first place with 869 million minutes. The streaming debut of the biopic Michael, about Michael Jackson, on Starz came in fourth with 275 million minutes, marking the first time a Starz-exclusive title has entered the rankings.

Nielsen’s data covers only viewing on television sets, does not include minutes watched on computers or mobile devices, and measures only U.S. audiences.