Apple’s most watched TV present simply barely makes an look on the Nielsen streaming chart

In December, with out offering particular viewing figures after all, Apple mentioned that Pluribus had grow to be probably the most watched TV present within the historical past of the Apple TV streaming service.

The present has now additionally appeared in business analytics agency Nielsen’s US streaming report. For the week commencing December 8, Pluribus got here in at quantity 9 out of the highest 10 streaming originals …

Regardless of Apple saying Pluribus has grow to be its hottest sequence ever, it didn’t seem on the Nielsen chart in any respect by way of November.

Dec 8 – Dec 14 was its first look, on the Originals solely chart. The complete High 10 record for originals airing in that week is as follows:

• Stranger Issues (Netflix)
• Season Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix)
• Landman (Paramount+)
• The Abandons (Netflix)
• Percy Jackson & the Olympians (Disney+)
• Mayor of Kingstown (Paramount+, Pluto TV)
• The Beast in Me (Netflix)
• Absentia (Netflix)
• Pluribus (Apple TV)
• Ripple (Netflix)

In whole, Nielsen says Pluribus recorded 360 million minutes seen. Apple TV doesn’t seem in any respect within the general streaming chart (which mixes acquired and authentic programming into one record), because the lowest entry was IT: Welcome to Derry with 660 million minutes seen.

For a comparability, within the prime spot, Stranger Issues topped 3 billion minutes seen in that very same interval.

Based mostly on Apple’s rhetoric, you may anticipate Pluribus to be larger up the record. Nonetheless, there are a number of elements at play. Firstly, the streaming business is usually extremely secretive about streaming viewership and nobody actually is aware of who’s telling the reality, or how they’re measuring the numbers to again up their PR claims. Apple additionally received’t straight inform us how many individuals watched Pluribus, or what number of paying subscribers they’ve.

Secondly, the Nielsen chart covers US streaming solely, whereas Apple will likely be citing viewership data primarily based on worldwide demand (with Apple TV service out there in over 100 international locations).

And thirdly, Apple TV as a service continues to be fairly small. Its hottest exhibits are dwarfed by most semi-popular Netflix originals, as an example. What’s barely bizarre is that we’ve got seen Apple TV exhibits chart larger than ninth a number of instances earlier than, with Severance season 2 hitting no. 5 on its debut final 12 months, and Ted Lasso typically being close to the highest of the charts throughout its run.

One issue is that Nielsen counts streaming hours primarily based on all out there episodes of a sequence. So, with Severance or Ted Lasso, there have been much more episodes to doubtlessly rely viewing minutes for. As an example, when Severance gained steam in January 2025 with the discharge of season two, it already had 9 episodes of season one additionally out there to stream and for brand spanking new viewers to make amends for.

As a model new present, Pluribus didn’t have any again catalog in any respect, with seven whole episodes out there as of the December 8 week to make up that 360 million minutes determine.

However, Pluribus is successful for Apple. A second season was already greenlit, and may begin taking pictures subsequent 12 months, with a probable air date someday in 2027.