Inventing Anna tops the Nielsens for the second week running — but is that the whole story?
The Nielsen numbers for February 21-27 show Inventing Anna sitting pretty at the top with over two billion minutes viewed. Lower down, Vikings: Valhalla makes its debut. Before we dig into the numbers, here’s what we predicted last week:
…an unchanged top two of Inventing Anna and Love is Blind. Vikings: Valhalla then leaps into play at number three. We expect Reacher to fall back further and Boba Fett may even drop out. Marvelous Mrs Maisel is harder to judge, but we’ll suggest it will rise…
Let’s start with the numbers…
The Nielsen data for February 21-27
As ever, remember this is a few weeks ago, US audience and we add the columns marked ‘*’.
| Rank | Streamer | Series | #Episodes | Ep length (mins)* | Total Minutes (Millions) | Episode Watches* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netflix | Inventing Anna | 9 | 67 | 2,084 | 31,104,478 |
| 2 | Netflix | Love Is Blind | 24 | 60 | 1,369 | 22,816,667 |
| 3 | Netflix | Ozark | 37 | 60 | 869 | 14,483,333 |
| 4 | Netflix | Vikings: Valhalla | 8 | 50 | 796 | 15,920,000 |
| 5 | Amazon | The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel | 30 | 60 | 719 | 11,983,333 |
| 6 | Amazon | Reacher | 8 | 60 | 687 | 11,450,000 |
| 7 | Netflix | Space Force | 17 | 30 | 534 | 17,800,000 |
| 8 | Netflix | Sweet Magnolias | 20 | 50 | 526 | 10,520,000 |
| 9 | Netflix | Raising Dion | 17 | 45 | 363 | 8,066,667 |
| 10 | Disney+ | The Book Of Boba Fett | 7 | 45 | 245 | 5,444,444 |
Inventing Anna tops the list
With more than two billion minutes (though only just), Inventing Anna makes it three weeks in a row for breaking the billion minute barrier. In three weeks, the show has attracted over six and a half billion minutes viewing in the US alone. That looks like success to us!
What else happened?
We did well with Love is Blind, Vikings: Valhalla, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Boba Fett. We overlooked Ozark — this is as the Nielsens combine various seasons, while the Netflix data for the same week shows only season 4 part 1 in sixth, the others must have been just outside the top ten.
Well done to The Book of Boba Fett for holding on, though viewers are down. Note also three shows not from Netflix, which we regard is healthy competition.
What are we looking out for next time?
With the data from Netflix, Worst Roommate Ever: Season 1 looks to keep Vikings: Valhalla from the top spot. Inventing Anna might make the top 3, and Reacher should make another week as should Space Force. Whatever happens, we’ll be back next time!