“Prison Break” Ranks Fifth in Streaming Charts

During the July 29 to Aug. 4 window, “Prison Break” made a strong comeback as the fifth-most-streamed series after being added to Netflix, according to Nielsen data. The popular drama series, which originally aired on Fox from 2005 to 2017, garnered a total of 758 million minutes of viewing across both Netflix and Hulu, where it was previously available.

Leading the streaming charts for the week was “House of the Dragon,” which accumulated an impressive 1.3 billion minutes of watch time. This marked the seventh consecutive week that the series surpassed the one billion mark, a noteworthy achievement considering that “House of the Dragon” also airs on HBO’s linear channel, where streaming views are not included in the Nielsen chart.

Overall streaming activity was relatively low during this particular viewing period, with only two titles, “House of the Dragon” and “Bluey,” crossing the billion-minute threshold. In comparison, the first week of July saw seven titles reaching this milestone. Nielsen attributed the decline in streaming numbers to the diversion of viewership towards the Olympics, which drew attention away from other series and movies that might have otherwise performed better. Interestingly, this was the first time since the inception of the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 in 2020 that no streaming originals made it to the chart, with only acquired series and one acquired film, “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” securing a spot at No. 10 with 697 million minutes watched across Netflix and Paramount+.

Following “House of the Dragon” in the streaming rankings were familiar favorites like “Grey’s Anatomy” (933 million minutes) and “Family Guy” (910 million minutes) at No. 2 and 3, respectively. “Prison Break” claimed the fifth spot, followed by “Criminal Minds” (745 million minutes), “Bob’s Burgers” (734 million minutes), “All American” (722 million minutes), and “NCIS” (707 million minutes) before “Jack Reacher.”

In a departure from the usual format, Nielsen released the list of overall streaming rankings for July 28 to Aug. 4 ahead of original streaming titles, acquired titles, and films. This shift in presentation highlighted the dominance of established series and the impact of external events on streaming behavior.

As streaming continues to evolve and adapt to changing viewer habits, the performance of “Prison Break” and other series in the charts serves as a reminder of the enduring appeal of quality content in the digital age.