Which Disney Shows Are the Best of the Best?
The Primetime Emmy Awards occur this weekend, but the fun has already started.
Countless down-ballot awards were handed out earlier this week, with Disney’s premiere programs performing impeccably.
Photo: Disney
In fact, Shogun has already become arguably the best single-season show in the history of the Emmys. And the main ceremony hasn’t even started!
So, things are going great for Disney, but the kind folks at Nielsen wanted to drive home the point.
Photo: Disney+
In many instances, Disney+ and Hulu host the programs with the best combination of quality and viewer totals.
This week, we’ve learned which Disney shows are the best of the best. Let’s just say that Disney is dominating overall.
Counting Down the Hits
Photographer: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Technically, this is the Nielsen streaming charts update for the week of August 12th through August 18th.
However, Nielsen did something interesting for the Emmys, and you can read it in detail here.
Wall Street Journal
The gist is that Nielsen determined which potential Emmy Award winners are also heavily watched.
Nielsen divided them into categories, which makes sense since that’s what the Emmys do.
Photo: IMDB
In the Drama category, the top Disney hit finishes third in viewers. It’s Shogun, which has registered 99.7 million viewer hours.
Nielsen’s charts track viewer minutes instead. So, Shogun claims the equivalent of nearly six billion viewer minutes.
Photo: IMDB
That’s third overall among Dramas, falling just behind The Crown, a program with seven seasons of content.
For this reason, Shogun is realistically the second-most popular for its one season, although it still falls well short of Fallout’s 162.1 million viewer hours.
Disney Streaming Shows Are Funny
Photo: Variety
The Comedy category is where Disney is absolutely dominant, though. Disney titles claim all three spots on the list.
Coming in first is The Bear, which has garnered 97.6 million viewer hours so far this year.
Photo: Hulu
That’s especially impressive when we consider its episodes are 10-20 minutes shorter than Dramas.
So, The Bear claims 5.86 billion viewer minutes at 30-40 minutes per episode.
Photo: Hulu
Then, we have Only Murders in the Building, which has ascended over the past year.
Nielsen tracks this show with 84.4 million viewer hours, the equivalent of 5.06 billion viewer minutes.
PHOTO: ABC
The other Disney show in this category is Abbott Elementary, which somehow managed 59.8 million streaming hours.
That’s 3.59 billion viewer minutes for a show that also airs weekly on ABC. So, it’s an especially impressive performance.
(ABC/Ser Baffo)
QUINTA BRUNSON
I found this interesting because Abbott Elementary has rarely placed on Nielsen’s Acquired chart.
The implication here is that it’s always among that next tier of popular streaming programs that doesn’t quite chart.
(Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)
Nielsen’s data also reveals which performers are most popular.
It’s Jeremy Allen White and Selena Gomez, both of which make perfect sense.
Photo: ABC
White gains a bonus because people also stream his previous show, Shameless.
Meanwhile, Gomez has Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney+ and a cooking show on Max.
Ayo Edibiri still finishes second among actresses, which speaks to the overwhelming popularity of The Bear.
This Week’s Streaming Ratings
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
Okay, that was the unique part of this week’s discussion. As for the streaming charts, they’re rather boring.
The most interesting discussion involves the program with the fewest viewer minutes.
Hulu had recently started airing War for the Planet of the Apes, which had previously charted.
However, the action blockbuster claimed only 206 million viewer minutes, signaling it doesn’t have any staying power on the charts.
Disney
In fact, perennial favorite Moana edged it out with 213 million viewer minutes.
On the Originals chart, Disney had two entries. The first is Love Island, which is technically on Hulu.
Photo: Hulu
Still, I credit most of its 404 million viewer minutes to Netflix.
But Hulu definitely has one hit. As previously discussed, Futurama is doing better than in the show’s 25-year history.
Image: Hulu
For the week in question, Futurama gained another 346 million viewer minutes.
Thus far, its 12th season has a baseline of 5.8 million weekly viewers for each new episode.
Image: Futurama
If it’d done that well on Fox, it never would have been canceled.
All the way back in 2003, Futurama’s final episode only garnered 4.3 million viewers.
Photo: Disney
I love that a new generation of fans appreciate its greatness. And speaking of great, Bluey earned 996 million viewer minutes.
Hulu programs claim four other spots on this chart as well. They are:
- Grey’s Anatomy – 928 million viewer minutes
- Family Guy – 834 million viewer minutes
- Modern Family – 697 million viewer minutes
- Criminal Minds – 663 million viewer minutes
IMDB
So, there’s no sign of Bob’s Burgers this week. In its place, Modern Family has suddenly surged onto the charts.
Since that was ABC’s most popular sitcom for the body of a decade, it makes perfect sense, though.
Final Thoughts
Photo: Disney
All this information underscores a single point. Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer strategy is working.
During the early days of Disney+ and Disney’s control of Hulu, neither service held customers’ attention.
Photo: English Jargon
To a certain extent, Disney+ still has that problem in that few of its shows perennially rank on the charts.
However, the Hulu side of Disney streaming has evolved into a bona fide juggernaut.
Photo:cnet.com
For its part, Disney+ will improve over the next few days, as Agatha All Along debuts on September 18th.
Then, Inside Out 2 arrives the following week, and Deadpool & Wolverine is probably only about eight weeks away.
Image: The Wall Street Journal
So, this is an ideal time to sign up for Disney+, especially at this price.
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