Streaming Wars • November 2023

Underdog Streamers Make Major Gains in November

Peacock continues growth with three shows in the Top 20 and 7% of total Engagement

Occupying 25% of the Top 20 most Watchworthy series could only be a low point for a streamer as consistently domiinant Netflix. A slight, but noticeable decline in Engagement for the streamer manifested on the leaderboards as a record performance for Peacock, which had three shows on the Top 20 for the first time ever, and as strong showings for both Paramount+ and Disney+. Hulu even notched a Top 20 series for the first time since May with Goosebumps.

The news wasn’t all bad for Netflix, though — it was the only streamer with a premiere in November’s Top 20 (Bodies at #13). And while Squid Game fell from #1 to #4 in the overall rankings, the premiere of reality spinoff Squid Game: The Challenge late in the month should position both shows for a strong December performance.

THE LEADERBOARDS: TOP SHOWS

Gen V doesn’t seem keen on relinquishing the #1 spot anytime soon, putting up Engagement numbers last month that are 45% higher than those of its closest competitor. But it’s this competitor that’s perhaps most deserving of recognition in November: The Fall of the House of Usher climbed four spots, and did so with an astonishing 98% sentiment score.

November saw some sudden declines for shows that have been on the leaderboards for months, including Ahsoka and Twisted Metal, both of which fell 10 spots or more after promising debuts. On the other hand, both Mrs. Davis and Rabbit Hole climbed onto the Top 20 seemingly out of nowhere — perhaps Watchworthy users anticipating a coming strike-induced content drought are already looking to catch up on talked-about TV they overlooked in the past. Both these shows notched their victories despite middling sentiment scores of 61% and 79%, respectively.

THE LEADERBOARDS: TOP PLATFORMS

Peacock again demonstrated its capacity for growth in November, putting three shows on the Top 20 — this just two months after breaking its previous record of one show. It came close to breaking another record, nearing a 7% share of Engagement after breaking 6% in October. The continuing success of Mrs. Davis, Based on a True Story, and Twisted Metal are anything but guaranteed, but the fact that Peacock allows users to stream Hallmark movies indicates positive things for the streamer in December.

Meanwhile, Paramount+ had two shows on the Top 20 — Special Ops: Lioness and Rabbit Hole — for the second month in a row, with up-and-comer Lawman: Bass Reeves waiting in the wings. Disney+ had more than two shows on the leaderboards for the first time in six months — that’s thanks in part to Goosebumps, a streaming original that the platform shares with Hulu.

NEW PREMIERES

Bodies may have been the only new series to crack the Top 20 in November, but it was nearly joined by three other premieres. The Curse and Lawman: Bass Reeves, both of which stream on Paramount+, and Netflix’s All the Light We Cannot See finished the month in a three-way tie for #21, all just a few Engagement points short of The Walking Dead: Dead City’s total. All of these shows have the potential to become fixtures on the leaderboards, a development that would benefit Paramount+ in particular.

Meanwhile, Apple TV+’s big budget Godzilla series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters debuted at #48, but since its premiere was as late as November 17, there’s still good reason to believe it could gather the kind of momentum that Hijack and Silo have been riding for months. The outlook is a little bleaker for animated series Blue Eye Samurai, which came in at #43 despite hitting Netflix on November 3.

RETURNING SHOWS

Another show that helped Disney+ approach its former leaderboards dominance was The Santa Clauses, a series that has adapted a unique, but appropriate approach of releasing a new installment each holiday season. To the show’s credit, The Santa Clauses had been building momentum prior to last month, hovering just outside the Top 20 in October.

Meanwhile, interest in The Crown didn’t see a huge spike as the first installment of the show’s final season premiered on the 16th — the show ranked #91 overall for Engagement last month with a sentiment score of 91%. Amazon’s Invincible ranked #67 the month of its second season premiere, while Apple’s For All Mankind got an excellent sentiment score of 97%.

Our Methodology

In 30 seconds, our Watchworthy recommendation app learns your taste in TV and gives every show a “Worthy Score” specifically for you: the higher a given show’s Worthy Score, the more likely it is you will enjoy that show. Each month we track user engagement across thousands of series for every major streaming service. All of these signals are combined into a single metric called Watchworthy Engagement. This enables Ranker to determine which service’s content has the highest engagement — in other words, the streaming platforms who are winning the Streaming Wars.

The Top 20 shows measures which new series are garnering the most Engagement from our users month to month. The most Watchworthy platform measures Engagement across all TV shows, new and old, and aggregates them according to the platform they stream on.