There’s no question whatsoever that 2019 was a huge year for streaming services. In fact, we may someday look back at 2019 as a year that set streaming services on a course to overtake traditional broadcast networks. Netflix in particular had a massive year, having released hundreds upon hundreds of original series, movies, and specials over the course of 2019. Among the company’s releases last year were some of its most popular and best-rated shows ever, including Stranger Things and The Witcher, as well as original movies that have been lauded by viewers and critics alike. In fact, two Netflix original films were just nominated for Best Picture Oscars — Marriage Story and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman.
Netflix is obviously the biggest streaming service right now, but it’s hardly the only service finding success.
It’s wonderful that the tide is turning and there’s so much great content out there from so many different sources. In addition to Netflix,
TV Time is an app created by a company of the same name, and it’s used to track what shows you’re watching. The app is available on iOS devices and Android devices, and it’s used by more than 12 million people to track the shows they’re watching and save new shows they want to watch. It’s a great tool for end-users, but it’s also handy for us. Why? Because TV Time anonymizes all that data and uses it to rank the most popular shows each week. Now, the company has supplied BGR with a roundup of the 20 most-watched streaming series of 2019 among its millions of users.
Among the top 20 most-watched streaming series, just a single show was created by a platform other than Netflix. It’s Hulu’s award-winning show The Handmaid’s Tale, which came in at #6. Each of the remaining 19 spots is occupied by a series that was created by, and is available exclusively on, Netflix.
There are a few big surprises on the list, but they likely speak more to TV Time’s user base than anything else. For example, Lucifer is #1 but it was nowhere to be found on Netflix’s own top 10 list. Stranger Things and 13 Reasons Why are no surprises in the #2 and #3 spots, and neither is Money Heist at #4. Orange is the New Black rounds out the top 5, which is sort of surprising considering how bad the past few seasons were. The rest of the top 20 list can be seen above so you can make sure you didn’t miss anything.