Let’s Discuss Disney’s Anchor Programming
What kind of content are you most likely to watch on a streaming service?
If you’re anything like the average consumer, you have a handful of anchor shows.
Photo: Netflix
These programs work as comfort food for you, something to have on in the background.
Netflix actually programs this way, with what it calls “folding laundry content.”
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
Disney has adopted a different approach, highlighting a few shows.
Today, let’s discuss Disney’s anchor programming.
How Disney Programs Content
To his credit, Bob Iger had a plan when he purchased Fox’s entertainment library.
Disney’s CEO came up through television and understands its intricacies better than most.
Photo: Getty
Iger knows that people develop viewing patterns that are hard to break, even after many years.
We tend to stick with our favorite television shows over the years, even as new content arrives.
(Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media)
Time has proven Iger right, which we know from watching the Nielsen Streaming Ratings charts.
Many of the most consistent titles on the service aren’t new programs.
Photographer: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
They’re sitcoms and dramas from past generations of television that viewers still watch.
Over the past two calendar years, shows like The Big Bang Theory and Grey’s Anatomy consistently rank on the charts.
IMDB
Even MUCH older titles like Gunsmoke and Little House on the Prairie sometimes appear.
Not coincidentally, streaming services are currently working on reboots of Gunsmoke and Little House on the Prairie.
Photo: Hulu
I’m one of many people who follow this time-honored tradition of how I watch television.
Here’s a list of the content you’re likely to find me watching:
- Archer
- The Big Bang Theory
- Futurama
- The Good Place
- Psych
- The Simpsons
Disney+
To the best of my knowledge, Psych has never appeared on Nielsen’s Streaming Ratings.
However, it fits today’s conversation for what it represents: the so-called Cozy Mystery genre.
IMDB
I’m pretty much the antithesis of a murder podcast fan, but the premise undeniably sells.
We’ve known this since we were kids who read Agatha Christie books for school.
Nowadays, fans watch a certain kind of program for this same niche.
Let’s Discuss Disney’s Anchor Programming
VIP+
The most recognizable example is NCIS, a long-running murder mystery show on CBS.
Hulu shares the streaming rights with Netflix, Paramount+, and Pluto TV.
NCIS
The fact that four different streamers offer NCIS is telling. Fans love the show despite the morbid subject matter.
Over the past 50 years, a different kind of cozy mystery has arisen: the medical drama.
Photo by Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images)
Shows like M*A*S*H, and its spinoff, Trapper John M.D., broke ground in this genre.
Nowadays, viewers universally associate the concept with Grey’s Anatomy.
The Pitt
The arrival of The Pitt reminds people that E.R. was doing it first, with Noah Wyle now appearing in a spiritual successor.
In a few days, Nielsen will reveal its 2025 recap of streaming hits, and I can say something for sure.
The Pitt
Grey’s Anatomy and NCIS will be on those lists because they’re perennially popular.
Disney has found several other niches for streaming success, though.
Walt Disney Company
Adult animation is the most noteworthy one due to how well it supports Hulu viewership.
Over the past calendar year, we’ve tracked all of the following on the Nielsen Streaming charts:
- American Dad!
- Bob’s Burgers
- Family Guy
- Futurama
- King of the Hill
- The Simpsons
Simpsons
Hulu’s own list would suggest that Rick and Morty should be on there as well.
Similarly, while they’re a bit more niche, Adventure Time and Solar Opposites have diehard fandoms, too.
NPR
Disney is monetizing this content, while fans are happily watching these shows on repeat.
Disney’s Newer Hits
Photo: Bluey.tv
Then, we have the younger crowd, whose parents use Bluey as free babysitting.
Disney has cornered the market on streaming content for children under the age of eight.
Photo: Ludo Studios
Other popular shows include Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
Disney also recently brought back The Amazing World of Gumball, which has also appeared on the Nielsen charts.
I’m skeptical that anybody saw that coming, especially due to how Nielsen calculates its ratings.
The service fails to measure second-screen viewing, which is terrific news for Disney.
If Gumball is charting anyway, its viewership must be ridiculously high.
Parents tend to give kids a phone/tablet and let them entertain themselves with content.
Photo: Merlin Entertainments
Thus, Nielsen only captures a fraction of the actual viewing of programs like Bluey and Gumball.
Of course, Disney possesses highly protected, extraordinarily detailed information about its subscribers.
Deadline
So, Disney knows a lot more about how people consume its content.
The anchor programming we’re discussing today isn’t accidentally available on Disney.
Photo: Deadline
Iger and his team have a carefully implemented plan that is only coming to fruition now.
In fact, we recently witnessed part of the plan during the holiday season.
Photo: Disney
Did you know that one of the movie franchises Disney acquired from Fox was Home Alone?
Yeah, hold that thought for a moment…
Nielsen Streaming Ratings
Photo: Disney
The holidays have proven kinder to Disney than the previous few months.
Disney’s combination of popular Christmas content has worked to its benefit.
Photo: IMDb
Many people – and I was one of them this holiday season – have watched our Christmas faves on Disney+. For my part, I learned during Christmas Week that my wife had never seen a particular film.
Somehow, she’d missed National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which features this song:
I have that video saved as a Favorite on YouTube. As for the movie, well, I like it just fine.
My wife…did not. In her defense, Chevy Chase has gotten pretty hard to love in the 2000s.
Still, I was amused to notice Christmas Vacation on the streaming charts this holiday season.
Photo: Getty
Here are Disney’s streaming hits for the week of December 15th-21st, 2026:
- NCIS – 898 million viewer minutes
- Homeland – 813 million viewer minutes
- Bluey – 762 million viewer minutes
- Grey’s Anatomy – 642 million viewer minutes
- Home Alone – 629 million viewer minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 609 million viewer minutes
- Law & Order – 569 million viewer minutes
- Family Guy – 525 million viewer minutes
- Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – 423 million viewer minutes
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians – 410 million viewer minutes
- Castle Rock – 393 million viewer minutes
Photo: Disney
Overall, Disney locked down 11 of the 30 available spots on the streaming charts.
So, this was one of Disney’s best performances over the past four months.
Walt Disney Company
Is the tide turning, or will Disney’s viewership drop as soon as the holiday ends?
We won’t know for sure for another three weeks, Percy Jackson’s success gives me hope.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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Feature Photo: Disney+
