Prime Video’s Reacher is turning a billion viewing minutes into a weekly habit. For the Sept. 7-13 window, Nielsen put the drama at 1.18 billion minutes watched on U.S. television sets, the fifth straight week it has cleared the one-billion mark.
The series also kept the No. 1 spot among all streaming titles, the fourth time it has led the overall chart since its season-four premiere in mid-August.
Why a streak matters more than a spike
For media planners, one big premiere is easy to buy around. Five straight weeks above a billion minutes is a different signal: repeat reach. It means the audience is returning and the title can serve as a durable anchor for campaigns, not a one-week firework.
That consistency is what separates a hit from an event. Nielsen’s data measures only TV screens, so the true cross-device total is higher, but the comparison across titles still holds.
What else moved the chart
- Netflix’s The Gentlemen rose 22 percent to 881 million minutes in its second week after the season-two premiere.
- Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives returned with a new season at 561 million minutes.
- Apple TV+’s Silo stayed in the top 10 originals with 418 million minutes, the week after its third-season finale.
- The Big Bang Theory fell just below one billion, at 971 million minutes, but still led acquired series.
- Major Crimes entered the rankings at 906 million minutes across Netflix and Pluto TV after Netflix added it on Sept. 3.
- HBO Max’s Lanterns improved slightly to 525 million minutes in its second chart week.
Library titles and sequel timing
Catalog additions are doing real work. Major Crimes, a spinoff of The Closer, appeared immediately after landing on Netflix — a reminder that a proven procedural can find a fast audience when distribution changes.
The film chart made a similar point about cross-promotion. Practical Magic (1998) pulled 236 million minutes on HBO Max in the same week its sequel opened in theaters. Tyler Perry’s Netflix film Why Did I Get Married Again? led movies and ranked third overall with 908 million minutes.
Read the measurement caveat
Nielsen’s streaming ratings count viewing on TV sets only, not computers or mobile devices, and they cover U.S. audiences alone. That means they are best used as a screen-share benchmark, not a total-audience count.
For entertainment marketers, the takeaway is clear: sustained original hits and well-timed catalog availability are both chart levers worth planning around.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
