Netflix
- Analytics company Jumpshot provided Business Insider a list of the most popular streaming shows of 2019 so far, based on viewership.
- Netflix dominated the list, but some popular Hulu shows snuck in, as well.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Netflix has been on a cancellation spree lately, but that hasn’t stopped viewers from tuning in.
Analytics company jumpshot provided Business Insider a list of the most popular original streaming TV shows of the year so far, and many of Netflix’s recent cancellations — including "The Punisher" and "One Day at a Time" — made the list.
The canceled series weren’t attracting large audiences prior to getting axed. For instance, "The Punisher’s" second season dropped 40% in viewership in the first weekend after release compared to season one, according to data from Jumpshot.
Netflix dominated the list, showing that its investment in original content is paying off. Netflix is expected to spend up to $15 billion on original content in 2019. Netflix’s hit superhero series, "The Umbrella Academy," came out on top. The streaming giant recently renewed the show for a second season.
But Hulu slid in with several of its own popular shows like "The Handmaid’s Tale," "Pen15," and "Marvel’s Runaways."
Jumpshot created the list based on number of views each series got in the first quarter of 2019 only on desktop devices, but the data can be used as a proxy of a show’s relative popularity.
Below are the 30 most popular streaming shows of 2019, so far:
30. "Pen15" (Hulu)
Hulu
Number of views: 1,594,047
Description: "PEN15 is middle school as it really happened. Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle star in this adult comedy, playing versions of themselves as thirteen-year-old outcasts in the year 2000, surrounded by actual thirteen-year-olds, where the best day of your life can turn into your worst with the stroke of a gel pen."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 95%
What critics said (Season 1): "The creators’ commitment to their bit pays off, not merely with Y2K-era realism but emotionally, giving every humiliating moment a double edge." — Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker
29. "The OA" (Netflix)
Netflix
Number of views: 1,602,808
Description: "Seven years after vanishing from her home, a young woman returns with mysterious new abilities and recruits five strangers for a secret mission."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 84%
What critics said (Season 2): "The OA is kind of genius, while simultaneously being incredibly silly. And you know what? I love it! I love its goofy, loopy vibe." — Todd VanDerWerff, Vox
28. "Altered Carbon" (Netflix)
Netflix
Number of views: 1,609,107
Description: "After 250 years on ice, a prisoner returns to life in a new body with one chance to win his freedom: by solving a mind-bending murder."
Rotten Tomatoes critic score: 66%
What critics said (Season 1): "Big issues of body, mind, identity and technology shuffle around the ‘Altered Carbon’ universe, but the show often drags its feet in order to fill its individual episodes’ running times." — Adam Graham, Detroit News
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – tclark@businessinsider.com (Travis Clark)