‘Bluey’ Tops Streaming Rankings Dominated By Acquired Titles From ‘Supernatural’ To ‘South Park’ In First Half Of 2025, Nielsen Says

The results are in, and the streaming landscape was once again primarily dominated by acquired content in the first half of the year, according to a new report from Nielsen.

The company released a ranking Monday of the Top 20 streaming titles from January to June, ranging from a whopping 25.1B minutes viewed for No. 1 title Bluey to a solid 10.5B for No. 20 South Park. The three streaming-only titles that made the list were Squid Game, Reacher and The Night Agent.

In fact, Squid Game was the only made-for-streaming program that cracked the Top 10, putting up more than 15B minutes viewed in the first half of the year. This is quite impressive, especially given the measurement window. Season 2 of the Netflix series launched just days before the start of the new year and, while it certainly retained momentum into January, this tally is missing some monster viewership from the first few days of availability. Similarly, this measurement is also missing any long-tail viewing for Season 3, which premiered on June 27.

Reacher and The Night Agent weren’t far behind with 13.3B and 12.2B minutes viewed, respectively.

(It’s worth mentioning that, while many of the current series listed are considered acquired programming because they technically air first on a linear channel, they still generate much of their audience from streaming. Shows that have long since ended their run are also considered acquired, even if they can now only be found on streaming.)

Interestingly, Supernatural also made it into the Top 20 at No. 15, surpassing new hits like The White Lotus and stalwarts like Friends. The former CW series racked up 11.9B minutes viewed in the first half of the year for Netflix — a solid indicator that the streamer will renew its license for the series, which seems to be up this year.

While South Park came in last place on the overall list, its placement at all comes at a noteworthy time given that the series has been embroiled in tension (that has included a legal threat) due to its lucrative streaming rights. South Park was caught in uncertainty amid Skydance’s pending acquisition of Comedy Central parent Paramount Global, which co-owns the joint venture behind South ParkSouth Park Digital Studios, with series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone who run it.

Over on the streaming originals list, Love Island USA once again flexes its popularity, putting up over 5B minutes viewed in the first half of the year. The kicker is that new episodes didn’t premiere until June 3. While Nielsen doesn’t split viewership between seasons, it seems likely that much of this viewing came in June as Season 7 rolled out and began setting audience records for the U.S. iteration.

Speaking of titles with a noticeable presence on the streaming originals list is Stranger Thingswhich hasn’t debuted any new episodes in three years. The final season is expected to roll out later this year, which indicates that fans are possibly getting an early jump on their rewatch.

See more about the state of streaming in the first half of 2025 below.