Nielsen Streaming: Give Neflix's 'Thunder Force' Five for Winning the Week of April 5-11

(Image credit: Netflix)

Netflix’s Thunder Force dominated Nielsen’s weekly SVOD top 10 ranking list during the week of April 5-11, generating more 950 million minutes of total viewing during its first two days of availability in the U.S.

The film was the most streamed SVOD title in the country during\ the week ending April 11.

The last film to top Nielsen’s new SVOD rankings was Amazon Studio's Coming 2 America back in early March. That Amazon Prime Video movie tallied over 1.4 billion minutes of total viewing during its first four days of availability in the U.S.

Thunder Force is only the fifth movie to rank No. 1 on Nielsen’s weekly top SVOD programs list. Besides Coming 2 America, Netflix’s Spenser Confidential, Disney Plus’ Soul and HBO Max’s Wonder Woman

1984 have also taken top spots on Nielsen’s master streaming ranker and movie ranker.

Thunder Force, which debuted April 9 on Netflix, stars Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer as two best friends with newly acquired superpowers.

The release of the fourth episode of Disney Plus’ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier helped the series capture 748 million minutes of U.S., placing it in the No. 2 spot on Nielsen’s list of the most watched shows on the four top U.S. subscription video-on-demand services. It ranked No. 1 on Nielsen’s more drilled down original series rankings. Falcon’s fourth-episode performance was up 120 million viewing minutes week over weeks. The series debuted on March 19.

Marvel’s second Disney Plus series focuses on Sam “Falcon” Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky “Winter Soldier” Barnes (Sebastian Stan) who both reprise their Avengers roles.

Nielsen weekly SVOD rankings April 5-11 — Weekly SVOD Rankings April 5-11 (Image credit: Nielsen)

Coming in at No. 7 on Nielsen’s overall SVOD listing and No. 2 on the originals chart was Amazon Prime Video’s 10-episodes of Them. Unlike their typical practice of weekly episode releases, Amazon dropped all 10 episodes of the horror anthology about a middle-class black family moving into an all-white neighborhood on April 9. The first season’s 10 episodes drew 439 million viewing minutes.

According to Nielsen, Them was the most viewed program (from a minutes perspective) among the SVOD Top 10 among African American homes. In addition, nearly 60% of its viewing was being driven by African-American households. That’s the highest concentration of African-American audiences for the top 10 content during the week of April 5.

Approximately one-fifth of Thunder Force’s audience was African-American.

Netflix’s The Serpent, an eight-episode series focused on serial killer Charles Sobhrai, garnered 406 million viewing minutes. The Serpent took the No. 3 spot on the originals list and came in No. 9 on the master ranker.

Netflix original series The Irregulars, meanwhile, captured 270 million minutes of U.S. viewing on the platform, placing it in the No. 8 spot on Nielsen’s originals ranking chart. That’s down 373 million viewing minutes week over week. The eight-part drama about a group of troubled street teens

who must come together to save London and the entire world debuted on March 26. On May 4 Netflix cancelled the detective drama after just one season.

Netflix’s Who Killed Sara continues to place high on the originals chart, coming in at No. 4 for the week ending April 11. The 10-episode revenge drama netted 360 million views per minute. The non-English language series launched on March 24 and was officially renewed for a second season, which will debut on May 19. Taking the No. 5 spot on the originals listing was a four-part documentary This Is A Robbery:

The World’s Biggest Art Heist. Focused on the most expensive art theft in U.S. history, the Netflix docuseries garnered 355 million minutes of viewing.

Nielsen weekly SVOD rankings - original series April 5-11 — Original Series (Image credit: Nielsen)

Per usual, Netflix took all 10 spots on Nielsen’s acquired show rankings. According to Nielsen, Netflix streaming of the 353 episodes CBS procedural NCIS drew 701 million viewing minutes, putting the show in the No. 1 spot on the acquired chart and No. 3 on the master ranker. Ranking at No. 2 on the acquired chart and No. 4 on the master ranker was the off-network run of the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. The show's 16 seasons and 369 episodes of the series tallied 627 million U.S. viewing minutes during the week of April 5.

Nielsen weekly SVOD rankings - acquired series April 5-11 — Acquired Series (Image credit: Nielsen)

For the first time in two weeks, Netflix’s Bad Trip didn’t take the No. 1 spot on the movies chart. In fact, it didn’t make the list. Coming in at No. 2 just below Netflix's Thunder Force was What Lies Below. The thriller, which was released in December 2020, garnered 294 million viewing minutes. Notably, that’s 656 less million views per minute than Thunder Force.

Netflix’s father-son drama Concrete Cowboy, which began steaming on April 2 came in at No. 3 on the movie chart garnering 270 million streaming minutes.