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The most popular Netflix, Amazon and Hulu shows of 2016

Published Jan 10th, 2017 5:48PM EST
Most Popular Streaming Shows 2016
Image: JoJo Whilden/Netflix

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While CBS, NBC, Fox, FX and other traditional networks are thrilled to share viewing figures when one of their shows performs well, the streaming services keep their cards much closer to the vest. That was the case once again in 2016, but last week, media insight and measurement company SymphonyAM, using independent data, put together a list of the 25 most-watched streaming shows of last year.

As Newsweek explains, SymphonyAM uses a metric called “L35” to determine the popularity of a show, which is the engagement that those shows attract on their streaming platform of choice in the first 35 days of availability.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Netflix dominated the list. 21 of the 25 shows are Netflix originals, while Hulu and Amazon Prime Video only managed to get two shows a piece to rank. That said, SymphonyAM did warn that Amazon’s The Grand Tour likely would have made the top 10, but the L35 metric wasn’t stable yet.

Without further ado, here are the top 25 streaming-only TV shows of 2016 according to SymphonyAM’s L35 metric (and originally shared by Newsweek at the beginning of January):

  1. Orange Is the New Black: Season 4 — 23 million viewers
  2. Stranger Things — 21.7 million viewers
  3. Fuller House — 21.5 million viewers
  4. Marvel’s Luke Cage — 12.1 million viewers
  5. Marvel’s Daredevil: Season 2 — 11.6 million viewers
  6. House of Cards: Season 4 — 8.8 million viewers
  7. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Season 2 — 8.4 million viewers
  8. The Ranch — 5.8 million viewers
  9. 11.22.63 — 5.3 million viewers
  10. Amanda Knox — 4.96 million viewers
  11. The Get Down — 4.91 million viewers
  12. Gracie and Frankie: Season 2 — 4.5 million viewers
  13. Love — 4 million viewers
  14. Narcos: Season 2 — 3.8 million viewers
  15. Black Mirror: Season 3 — 3.7 million viewers
  16. The Crown — 3.5 million viewers
  17. Bloodline: Season 2 — 3.3 million viewers
  18. Longmire: Season 5 — 3.2 million viewers
  19. Chelsea Does — 2.7 million viewers
  20. The Path — 2.06 million viewers
  21. Flaked — 2.04 million viewers
  22. Bojack Horseman: Season 3 — 2 million viewers
  23. Marco Polo: Season 2 — 1.9 million viewers
  24. Goliath — 1.8 million viewers
  25. Bosch: Season 2 — 1.6 million viewers
Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.