Here Are Disney’s Holiday Streaming Hits
Hi, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed a lovely holiday season.
As usual, Nielsen only provided sporadic updates to give its employees some vacation, too.
Wall Street Journal
So, we haven’t done the Nielsen Streaming Ratings in almost a month.
We’ve got three sets of charts to go through and evaluate how Disney has done.
Photographer: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Let’s just say that the movie-viewing public loves Kevin McCallister.
So, here’s what we know about Disney’s holiday streaming performance.
Three Charts for the Price of One!
Nielsen
Okay, I’m a bit behind here because Nielsen actually posted three weeks of data.
Weirdly, the ratings service didn’t follow any sort of set schedule, though.
Photo:Rappler
Even people like me who keep up may have missed a chart due to the erratic publication schedule.
So, I’ll just start with where we left off last time in mid-December.
VIP+
That was the discussion about Disney cannibalizing its own streaming ratings.
As I mentioned that week, we were already heading toward a popular time for Disney content.
Families Streaming Disney+
Its holiday titles always perform well during the time from Thanksgiving Week until New Year’s.
As proof, I’ll go ahead and tell you that Home Alone tracked 499 million viewer minutes.
Photo: English Jargon
That was during the week of November 24th-30th, with Thanksgiving falling on the 27th.
That particular week worked differently from the rest of the holiday season, as you’re about to see.
Photo: Home Alone
During the other two weeks, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York also charted.
Like I said, Disney fans cannot get enough of Kevin McCallister.
Photo: Disney
In past years, Disney’s streaming channels had the rights to other titles like Elf.
Due to licensing issues, Disney+ and Hulu lacked that movie and several others at the end of 2025.
Photo: Computer Hope
You’ll notice that as we look at the other charts, but another noteworthy trend evolved.
Thus far, Nielsen hasn’t listed Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas on any of these charts.
However, we do have one classic holiday film that filled the void.
The Santa Clause earned a spot in early December, as you’re about to see.
So, we may just be too early in the process for Nightmare Before Christmas.
Conversely, more fans may view it as a Halloween film these days. But it used to chart during both holiday seasons.
Disney’s Thanksgiving Week Hits
Fox
Here are the other Disney shows that charted for the week of November 24th:
- Homeland – 855 million minutes
- Bluey – 738 million minutes
- NCIS – 690 million minutes
- Grey’s Anatomy – 689 million minutes
- Law & Order – 600 million minutes
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – 580 million minutes
- Zootopia – 455 million minutes
Bluey asks Aunt Trixie to take off Muffin’s cone while Bingo and Mum watch on. (Credit: Disney Channel)
It’s important to acknowledge that Bluey appears to be fading a bit in popularity.
I don’t want to overstate this decline, but if we presume Nielsen’s data is accurate, it’s real.
Photo: Disney+
Historically, a “bad week” for Bluey was 800 million minutes, and the show increased during the holidays.
As you’re about to witness, that most assuredly hasn’t happened in November and early December.
Photo: Disney+
I was curious about this, so I went back and checked. Bluey earned 949 million minutes for the same week last year.
A lack of new episodes certainly plays a factor here, but it’s a worrisome stat for Disney.
Photo: Disney+
Remember that the Bluey movie won’t arrive until 2027, and Disney’s already all-in on the character.
We’re getting Bluey on Disney cruises and theme parks in 2026. So, it needs to hold its appeal.
With children’s programming, that’s not always easy to do, with CoComelon an excellent example.
That show seemingly disappeared from the ratings charts overnight and hasn’t been seen since.
Photo: Disney
On the bright side, the arrival of Zootopia 2 in theaters triggered a renewed interest in the brand.
That’s how the Disney Flywheel should work during the digital era.
Let’s Talk About December’s Ratings
Photo: Disney
Nielsen posted the ratings for the week of December 1st through 7th while nobody was looking.
I don’t want to sound cranky about it, but this is a #OneJob scenario at Nielsen.
Anyway, here are the Disney shows that charted during the first week of December:
- Homeland — 907 million minutes
- NCIS — 850 million minutes
- Bob’s Burgers — 769 million minutes
- Bluey — 707 million minutes
- Grey’s Anatomy – 698 million minutes
- Law & Order – 602 million minutes
- Home Alone – 471 million minutes
- The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives – 374 million minutes
- Rio – 370 million minutes
- Rio 2 – 308 million minutes
- Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – 298 million minutes
Scene from Home Alone
Then, here are the Disney programs listed for the week of December 8th through the 14th:
- NCIS – 802 million minutes
- Homeland – 798 million minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 739 million minutes
- Law & Order – 687 million minutes
- Bluey – 677 million minutes
- Grey’s Anatomy – 639 million minutes
- Home Alone – 541 million minutes
- Percy Jackson & The Olympians – 508 million minutes
- Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – 360 million minutes
- The Santa Clause – 306 million minutes
Trendspotting
Home Alone
You can really see how popular Home Alone is, although the behavior is a bit quirky.
Apparently, the Home Alone reboot, Home Sweet Home Alone, just isn’t popular.
People prefer the original movie and, to a lesser extent, its sequel.
On the Bluey front, I’m pretty sure that’s the first time the show has ever slipped under 700 million viewer minutes.
Photo: Disney
Other than that, the stories we’ll track more in the coming weeks are the Originals entries.
Percy Jackson and The Olympians is an unqualified hit for Disney.
Photo: Disney
Sadly, the same is true of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Disney’s hottest reality show.
With that program excelling, Disney will almost certainly give more unscripted content a chance. Yuck.
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
Finally, in the case of Rio, you can think of it as a mini-Ice Age.
Disney gained both Rio movies when it took over the Fox film library, as this was a Blue Sky Studios / 20th Century Fox production.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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Feature Photo: Disney+
