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“Cross,” the James Patterson adaptation starring Aldis Hodge, debuted at No. 1 on Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings, with 1.36 billion minutes watched during the week of Nov. 11 to Nov. 17. All eight episodes of the series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on Nov. 14, meaning the show was only available for four days during the viewing period.
The show, created by Ben Watkins and based on Patterson’s “Alex Cross” detective novels, performed particularly well with Black audiences, who accounted for 40% of total watch time. (In November, Patterson revealed that he previously turned down a seven-figure deal offer to turn Cross into a white man in a series adaptation, saying “that wasn’t who he was.” Reacting to the revelation, Hodge said, “I was shocked, impressed and proud of that.”)
Following behind at No. 2 on the overall top 10 is “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which landed on Disney+ on Nov. 14 and was the most-streamed movie of the viewing period. “Outer Banks” held on at No. 3 after five new episodes of the Netflix teen drama dropped on Nov. 7.
Popular on Variety Rounding out the original series list are Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “Cobra Kai” and “The Diplomat”; Paramount+’s “Special Ops: Lioness” and “Tulsa King”; and Netflix’s “Arcane,” “The Great British Baking Show” and “Sisters’ Feud.” Netflix accounted for seven of the 10 top-streamed original series from Nov. 11-17.
“The Penguin” would have placed at No. 5 on the originals list with 595 million minutes of watch time after the finale, but because it airs live on HBO and is not exclusive to Max, the series ranks on the acquired charts, where it landed at No. 9. From its debut in September through Nov. 17, “The Penguin” accumulated 3.8 billion viewing minutes on Max, plus 650 million from its HBO airings.
“Family Guy” topped the acquired charts with 970 million minutes viewed on Hulu from Nov. 11-17. “Bob’s Burgers” (968 million minutes viewed) and “Grey’s Anatomy” (926 million minutes viewed) trailed behind at No. 2 and 3.
On the movie charts, Christmas came early. Netflix’s holiday rom-coms “Hot Frosty” and “Meet Me Next Christmas” took the No. 3 and No. 9 slots, with 439 million and 289 million minutes viewed, respectively. Plus, 2018’s “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch” landed at No. 7 with 294 million minutes viewed, 46% of which were powered by kids aged 2-11.
See Nielsen’s list of overall streaming rankings for Nov. 11-17 first, followed by original streaming titles, acquired titles and then films.
