That the final season of Stranger Things drew a huge audience isn’t news. New data from Nielsen, however, puts a new number on that — while also showing that a number of network series are among the bigger shows on all of TV and streaming.
Stranger Things 5 brought in 30.6 million viewers over its first 28 days, leading all series — streaming or traditional TV — in the 2025-26 season (through March 1). Netflix has seven of the top 20 shows, with limited series His & Hers (24.2 million viewers) and docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning (19.7 million) also making the top five.
Network series make up half of the top 20, of course with an assist from their streaming partners. CBS has six shows, led by Marshals with 25.6 million viewers over 28 days. That number only reflects the March 1 series premiere, which had 20.6 million viewers after one week and added almost 6 million more in the subsequent 21 days.
CBS had six shows in the top 20, with Tracker, CIA (again, just for its series premiere), Matlock, Sheriff Country and Ghosts all making the list. ABC’s High Potential, The Rookie and Will Trent did as well, along with the premiere episodes of the Scrubs revival.
Aside from the Netflix shows, three other streaming-only series made top 20: Landman on Paramount+ (18.9 million viewers over 28 days), The Pitt on HBO Max (12.6 million) and Fallout on Prime Video (12.5 million).
Were live sports to be included, primetime NFL games on NBC, ABC/ESPN and Prime Video — which all averaged 15 million viewers or more this season — would bump off the last few shows on the list. CBS also notes that 60 Minutes and Survivor are averaging better than 10 million viewers over 28 days, but they fall a little below Ghosts.
The top 20 shows through March 1 are below.
