Viewers Are Watching Fewer New TV Shows, More Free Content

The numbers don’t lie: American viewers like their old TV favorites, and they really like TV they can watch for the nice price of free.

After studying Nielsen top 10 streaming in data from the start of 2020 to late 2025 — and including Netflix’s self-reported viewership — Bloomberg has found that American viewers aren’t tuning into new shows as much as they are old ones.

Of the 10 most-watched original shows — in terms of minutes watched while in Nielsen’s weekly top 10 — zero are new series, marking the first time in several years that new series haven’t broken into that top 10 list, Bloomberg notes. Squid Game is at the top with 18.6 billion minutes, followed by Wednesday (16.4 billion) and Love Island (11.4 billion).

Even more worrisome for Hollywood, three of the shows in that top 10 list — Squid Game, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and You — ended in 2025.

We examined six years of @nielsen data to understand what TV people are streaming — and how their tastes have changed.

Going to share some takeaways, starting with a biggie:

Hollywood is delivering fewer new hit TV shows than any time in recent history. pic.twitter.com/LlAnBwYAxL

— Lucas Shaw (@Lucas_Shaw) December 29, 2025

The researchers also found the growth of free streaming services are outpacing that of paid ones. YouTube is not only the fastest grower — followed by ad-supported options Roku Channel and Tubi— but also the most popular streaming service, bigger than Netflix and Prime Video combined.

We spend too much time talking about Apple, HBO, Paramount+ and Peacock and not enough time talking about Tubi and Roku.

Tubi/Roku have doubled HBO and Peacock in size over the last couple years. pic.twitter.com/KHY4U4g1DA

— Lucas Shaw (@Lucas_Shaw) December 29, 2025

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Other interesting findings:

• NCIS is the TV show with the most minutes of view time during times in the weekly top 10 from 2020 to 2025, with 151.4 billion, followed closely by Grey’s Anatomy (148.8 billion) and Bluey (137.7 billion).
• Ozark ranks as the decade’s most-watched original streaming show, with 55.3 billion minutes of view time, though the researchers note that the data only accounts for Stranger Things’ fourth season (the only season to come out between 2020 and the data’s late-2025 cutoff).
• Bluey takes the prize for the most-watched show of 2025, with 39.3 billion minutes, while Grey’s comes in second again with 30.3 billion.
• KPop Demon Hunters is the most-watched film of 2025, with 17.4 billion minutes, far ahead of the No. 2 film, Happy Gilmore 2, with 6.2 billion.
• Disney+’s share of the streaming business has netted no growth over the past six years, though the service does host the two most-watched streaming movies in that time frame: Moana (37.7 billion minutes) and Encanto (29.3 billion minutes).
• The rest of the top 10 most-watched streaming movies are all family-friendly fare, including Elemental, coming in at No. 10 with 8.5 billion minutes of view time after its sleeper-hit box-office performance.
• Netflix hosts about two-thirds of the original TV series and more than half of the films in Nielsen’s top 10 lists since 2020.
• The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Suits often ranked in the top 10 during their times on Netflix but not during their times on Peacock.