Read on Twitter
Always lots of year-end lists for TV. Nielsen is the standard, but on demand stats offer insights as well. I like to look at @Xfinity’s data, since it’s the nation’s biggest cable system+has streaming only customers+it is in many states. So what did we watch in 2020? A thread:
Xfinity was able to break down its data by month, allowing a peek at how different shows performed during the year. Cable shows get favored, and because folks do a lot of binges via on demand, you’ll see shows with lots of episodes in their libraries pop up.
I will add to this throughout the day, but let’s start with the Before Times—January and February. Starz and Showtime aired some of their biggest hits—Power, Shameless, Homelander, Ray Donovan and Outlander—and all did well (though Outlander faded a bit)
HBO kicked off one of its best years ever in terms of new hits with The Outsider, which topped the Xfinity chart in February. (Despite this, HBO opted against another batch of episodes.)
Movies also do well on demand, whether it’s titles that are part of a premium service (John Wick on HBO) or pay per view (The Joker, Frozen II)
The biggest broadcast network hits also do nicely on VOD. This is Us, The Bachelor, SVU, 9-1-1: Lone Star and, sigh, The Masked Singer all made too 20 early in ‘20.
And as you will see as we go through the year, people love 90 Day Fiancé...in all its forms.
As pandemic lockdowns began in March, the top show was one you’d expect even in normal times: The final season of #Homeland. But suddenly we also saw a lot of oldies resurface, perhaps as folks took time to binge shows they’d always wanted to.
So The Sopranos and GOT—always part of the top 20 VOD mix—surged even more than usual, while The Wire and True Blood landed in the top 20 in April. (The HBO library is one of TV’s most valuable.) Also interesting: EPIX did well in the spring. Oh, and more 90 Day mania
As parts of the country opened up again in May, the VOD lists were dominated by some shows premiering or airing new episodes. ESPN/Netflix’s The Last Dance topped May’s list, while Showtime’s BILLIONS owned the No. 2 slow in May and June.
Xfinity made a lot of Hulu programming available to subs in May, and audiences responded. Handmaid’s Tale and Lil Fires both made the top 10. And lots of reality shows were consumed in June. 9 of 20 were unscripted. Yes, 3 were part of the 90 Day Extended Universe
On to the summer, where in July a show which doesn’t get a ton of ink relative to its success topped the chart: Showtime’s The Chi. GOT is HBO’s most consumed show on VOD in both July and August, beating newer fare such as Perry Mason and the pay cable premiere of Midway
September is an interesting month. A 90 Day show is No. 1, and a Power spin-off is No. 2. But sliding into third is CBS’s little reality show that could, Love Island. Nielsen numbers don’t tell the full story of this show’s reach
Also notable to me from September: P-Valley on Starz drew more VOD consumption than HBO’s Lovecraft Country.
(But that may be because Lovecraft debuted mid-August, while P-Valley had been on since mid-July. This is a good place to note the Xfinity data measures hours consumed across all platforms. So if a show has more hours available to watch, it’s easier for it to crack the top 20)
And sure enough, with more eps available to watch in October, HBO’s Lovecraft Country soars to No. 1 on the Xfinity VOD chart, while in November, HBO’s The Undoing debuted at No. 1. HBO, Showtime and TLC each topped the chart three times during the first 11 months of 2020
(ESPN and Starz also had a No. 1 show once in 2020; no data yet for December.)
One other thing about the Xfinity data: Folks love watching movies on TV, be it via a premium subscription service such as HBO or EPIX, or via pay per view. Last month, Elf on Starz was the No. 7 show on VOD, beating The Bachelorette. There’s a reason steamers want more movies
Should also note the kids shows which do super well on VOD. It’s nice to see HBO’s Sesame Street regularly pop up in the top 20. Nick Jr’s Paw Patrol is also beloved, as is Spongebob.
And that’s it. Hope you found these charts modestly interesting. This data shouldn’t be taken as any sort of definitive ranking of what Americans as a whole watched in 2020, even among linear networks.
Broadcast nets get a ton more traditional viewing and thus have fewer potential eyeballs in VOD. Cable news was HUGE in 2020, but folks watch live—they don’t use VOD for that. And of course, these rankings largely omit streaming services (save for Hulu in May).
So consider this a snapshot, and another reminder that as valuable and important as Nielsen numbers remain for ad-supported networks, they’re not the only way to measure audience enthusiasm.
Happy 2021!
Happy 2021!
