The Pitt and Stranger Things Dominated Streaming in the First Half of 2026

 With a new edition of Nielsen’s Gauge report recently released, one thing is crystal clear: domestic audiences are still in love with both Stranger Things and The Pitt. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A, breaks down the current state of streaming for us.

                                                                         Brandon Blake


A 2025 Premier (Technically)


Regarding Stranger Things, it’s technically a 2025 release. But given it aired on the last day of the year, that’s splitting hairs. It was Nielsen’s most-streamed title so far for the year, beating out not just fellow TV titles, but also movies.  It managed 23.26B viewing minutes across the period, also setting a single-week record of 8.65B minutes for its first week. While it fell off the top 10 charts in early March, it’s still been pulling in more fans along the way, adding 3.81B minutes, or about 256M minutes a week.


                                                                    Blake & Wang


Strong Traction from The Pitt


The Pitt, which really took off in its second season, managed the second-place spot in the original series category behind Stranger Things and third overall, racking up 21.12B viewing minutes. It also made the Top 10 list for 21 consecutive weeks. The Top 5 series for the half-year was rounded out by Bridgerton at 17.5B minutes, Landman with 12.4B, and The Lincoln Lawyer at 10.53B. Interestingly, Love Island USA managed to sneak into 13th place at 7.62B minutes, despite only premiering in June. Roughly 90% of its watch time came after the season 8 debut.


Zootopia 2 unsurprisingly led all movies, while Disney’s Bluey also continued its chart dominance for library series. Behind it, we saw resurgences from Grey’s Anatomy and The Big Bang Theory, the only three series to consistently make the Top 10 through the period. It seems Millennial nostalgia is still holding strong when it comes to home TV viewing. 


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