Cancellation Watch: The Sandman Tops the Nielsen Rankings, House of the Dragon Improves, and More

Nielsen Streaming Top 10

Netflix’s The Sandman moved up to the Number 1 slot in the Nielsen Streaming Rankings for originals for the week of August 8th to 14th.  That was its first full week of streaming (it premiered on Friday the prior week) and the show brought in an estimated 1.4 billion minutes of viewing.  Whether that will be good enough to justify the cost of a second season remains to be seen.  Slipping to Number 2 was Stranger Things with 1.1 million minutes of viewing.  That show is set to return for its fifth and final season in 2023.  Entering the charts was Netflix’s Locke & Key which debuted at Number 4 with 919 million minutes viewed.  That show is in its final season.  Following are all the sci fi and fantasy TV shows on the streaming charts for the week (the number in parenthesis is the prior week rank):

Nielsen Streaming Rankings for the Week of Aug-8 to Aug-14

Streaming Originals
1 (3) The Sandman (Netflix) 1.4 Billion Minutes
2 (1) Stranger Things (Netflix) 1.1 Billion Minutes
4 (n/a) Locke & Key (Netflix) 919 Million Minutes

Acquired Shows
5 (n/a) Riverdale (Netflix) 578 Million Minutes
7 (n/a) Game of Thrones (Netflix) 431 Million Minutes

Source: Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings (Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, and Apple TV+), Nielsen National TV Panel, U.S. Viewing Through Television

Netflix Top 10:

In the Netflix charts, The Sandman slipped to Number 3 for the week of August 29 to September 4th.  That was its fifth week of release and it had 33 million hours of viewing.  Stranger Things Season 4 slipped to Number 5 with 20 million hours viewed as it marked its fourteenth week in a row in the Netflix Top 10.  Manifest Seasons 1 and 3 were also in the Top 10 as viewers prepare for the arrival of the fourth season which premieres in November.  Following are all the sci fi and fantasy TV shows on the Netflix charts for the week (the number in parenthesis is the prior week rank):

Netflix Top 10 for the Week of Aug-29 to Sep-4

English Language Shows
3 (2) The Sandman 33.3 Million Hours
5 (4) Stranger Things: Season 4 20.3 Million Hours
7 (5) Manifest: Season 1 16.4 Million Hours
10 (n/a) Manifest: Season 3 11.9 Million Hours

Non-English Language Shows
3 (3) Alchemy of Souls: Season 1 27.2 Million Hours

Source: Netflix

Linear Ratings Results of Interest:

On Sunday, HBO’s House of the Dragon improved slightly to a 0.41 rating based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 1.8 million total viewers.  That is still down from its premiere, but the show is holding its audience pretty well so far and has already been renewed for a second season.  Over on AMC, Tales of the Walking Dead held low at a 0.09 rating with 387K total viewers and a second season for that one is up in the air at this point.

On Thursday, FXX’s animated comedy Little Demon took a notable drop to a 0.04 rating with 119K total viewers.  I will wait to see if that one rebounds before raising the red flag, though.  Over on The CW on Wednesday, Stargirl improved just a bit to a 0.08 rating with 576K total viewers.  If the numbers for that one do not continue to improve, it will be moving to Bubble status.

On Tuesday, FX’s What We Do in the Shadows ticked down to a 0.12 rating with 388K total viewers, but it has already been renewed through its sixth season.  On The CW on Monday, Roswell New Mexico held at a 0.06 rating with 366K total viewers for its series finale.

You can see the full, season-to-date ratings for the sci fi and fantasy shows at this link, and below are the ratings for the genre shows from the past week. Ratings Source: ShowBuzzDaily

Ratings Results for the Week of 9/5/22

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