With stress from the pandemic, the housing market, work, and more piling up in our minds, viewers are choosing to take a break from real life by streaming fictional entertainment set in different realities. According to data from Nielsen, The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu was the No. 1 streamed Original show for the week ending on May 23, followed closely by Who Killed Sara? on Netflix. Both series had more than 500 million minutes of streaming time despite The Handmaid’s Tale having more than double the number of episodes as Who Killed Sara?.
Netflix also claimed third place that week with Jupiter’s Legacy. The superhero series was canceled before it could make a second season due to a number of factors including going over budget and only receiving 38% of critics’ approval on Rotten Tomatoes.
Netflix cleaned house in the Acquired TV show category with NCIS, Startup, and Criminal Minds leading the pack each with well over 600 million minutes. Grey’s Anatomy, Schitt’s Creek and Cocomelon also made the list which comes as no surprise given their historic popularity.
Viewer’s movie choices from the week also point to escaping from real life in an alternate reality. The week’s top movie was Netflix’s zombie heist film Army of the Dead which drew in a whopping 913 million streaming minutes, placing it in the overall top spot as well. The Woman in the Window held spot No. 2 with 456 million minutes, followed by The Mitchell’s vs, The Machines which also stays true to the escapism trend going on.
