‘Inventing Anna’ Makes Strong Debut in Streaming Rankings

Shonda Rhimes’ Inventing Anna had a big first weekend, racking up more than a billion minutes of viewing time after its premiere on Netflix.

The limited series had had 1.22 billion minutes of viewing for Feb. 7-13, finishing in a virtual tie with Ozark for third place among original series in Nielsen’s streaming rankings (Anna had 1.219 billion minutes to 1.222 billion for Ozark). Inventing Anna premiered Feb. 11, meaning it built up all its watch time over three days. Nielsen says the audience for the series was 70 percent female.

Reacher captured the top overall spot for the week — marking a first for a series from Amazon’s Prime Video. The show based on Lee Child’s series of novels racked up 1.59 billion minutes of watch time, down slightly from 1.84 billion for its debut the previous week. (It’s not, however, the first Amazon title of any kind to top the streaming chart: Feature film Coming 2 America did so two times in March 2021.)

Reacher narrowly beat out Netflix’s Sweet Magnolias (1.56 billion minutes) for the lead among original series.

The Book of Boba Fett hit a series high of 885 million minutes viewed on Disney+ for the week its finale premiered. The series grew its audience each week it was on.

Among acquired shows, a pair of animated favorites broke up the usual Netflix monopoly on the top 10. Rick and Morty (Hulu) was sixth on the list with 385 million minutes, and The Simpsons (Disney+) came in seventh at 295 million minutes.

Nielsen’s streaming ratings cover viewing on TV sets only and don’t include minutes watched on computers or mobile devices. The ratings only measure U.S. audiences, not those in other countries, and currently only include Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video.

Nielsen’s top streaming series for Feb. 7-13 are below.

Original Series

1. Reacher (Prime Video), 1.59 billion minutes viewed
2. Sweet Magnolias (Netflix), 1.56 billion
3. Ozark (Netflix), 1.22 billion
4. Inventing Anna (Netflix), 1.22 billion
5. The Book of Boba Fett (Disney+), 885 million
6. Raising Dion (Netflix), 757 million
7. Love Is Blind (Netflix), 478 million
8. All of Us Are Dead (Netflix), 454 million
9. Disenchantment (Netflix), 397 million
10. The Woman in the House … (Netflix), 366 million

Acquired Series

1. NCIS (Netflix), 796 million minutes
2. Cocomelon (Netflix), 674 million
3. Criminal Minds (Netflix), 653 million
4. Seinfeld (Netflix), 425 million
5. Grey’s Anatomy (Netflix), 405 million
6. Rick and Morty (Hulu), 385 million
7. The Simpsons (Disney+), 295 million
8. Supernatural (Netflix), 289 million
8 (tie). New Girl (Netflix), 289 million
10. Downton Abbey (Netflix), 267 million