Audiences Ready to Stream Holiday Content as ‘Best. Christmas. Ever!’ Opens Strong on Netflix | Charts
Christmas is coming early this year. Netflix’s newest entry into its holiday cinematic universe, “Best. Christmas. Ever!” was released on the streaming platform prior to Thanksgiving, but audiences appear ready to ring in the holiday season even before the calendar changes to December. Over 900,000 U.S. households tuned in to the Christmas flick, landing the film at a strong No. 3 position on the streaming charts, according to the Samba TV Weekly Wrap Report for the week of Nov. 13 to Nov. 19.
The Netflix original, which stars Brandy Norwood and Heather Graham, is the latest in the streamer’s upcoming holiday slate and appears to be a new yuletide favorite in its initial viewing window. The film garnered a 64% increase in viewership over last year’s “Christmas with You.”
Driving initial viewership is older millennials (adults aged 35-44), who over-indexed by double digits compared to the average U.S. household in the first four days available to stream. Additionally, the representation of a leading Black star (Brandy Norwood) perhaps helped drive an over-index of 11% among Black households.
Coming in No. 1 for the second consecutive week is “The Killer,” catapulting Netflix to the most-streamed spot yet again, followed by TikTok sensation Matt Rife’s comedy special “Natural Selection” at No. 2, though the program faced backlash over a number of Rife’s jokes.
The final season of “The Crown” landed in the No. 4 spot this week, but with a decrease of 36% in viewership than the previous season’s premiere. Almost 800,000 U.S. households tuned in to watch the sixth season opener with the initial four days rolled out on Netflix, compared to 1.2 million households who watched last season. Older households (adults aged 65-74) were more likely than the average U.S. household to catch the premiere, over-indexing by nearly 15%. Of the top 25 largest Designated Market Areas (DMAs), Boston captured the most “Crown” viewers, over-indexing by 115%, followed by San Francisco (+100%) and Denver (+60%).
Demonstrating staying power and landing on the charts for another week is Netflix’s limited series “All The Light We Cannot See” at No. 5, which is based on the popular novel, followed at sixth by “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” the latest series from prolific creator Taylor Sheridan on Paramount+.
As the latest, 14th season draws to a close, “The Great British Baking Show” ranked No. 7 this week. New episodes are hitting Netflix on Fridays for U.S. fans. Its most recent has propelled season 11 onto the streaming charts this week.
Apple TV+ also had a big week as the miniseries “Lessons in Chemistry,” starring Brie Larson returned to the chart several weeks after its premiere and landed in eighth. The second season of “Loki” on Disney+ nabbed the ninth spot, while Netflix’s “How to Become a Mob Boss” closed out at No. 10.
On linear television, talent competitions and reality series fared exceptionally well. NBC’s “The Voice” saw three of its telecasts reach the top 10, while also garnering the most-watched offering in all of broadcast. ABC’s duo of “Bachelor” franchise spinoffs, “The Golden Bachelor” and “Bachelor in Paradise,” landed in the No. 2 and 3 spots for the week, followed by ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”
CBS’s mainstay reality series “Survivor” ranked among the top 10 yet again, followed by a “Saturday Night Live” hosted by Jason Momoa with musical guest Tate McRae. Rounding out the top 10 this week are “NCIS: Sydney” on CBS and ABC’s “Wheel of Fortune.”
Cole Strain is VP and Head of R&D at Samba TV, a WrapPRO partner. Click here for more data and analysis from Samba TV.
The Wrap Report provides an exclusive first look at the most watched movies and TV series from the past week across both streaming and linear television sourced from viewership trends collected from Samba TV’s panel of more than 3 million households drawn from over 25 million connected TVs, balanced to the U.S. Census.
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