'Severance' is big. 'Reacher' is way, way bigger.
Apple
- "Severance" is the breakout hit Apple TV+ has wanted for years.
- Its popularity is even more impressive when you consider that Apple TV+ is way smaller than its competitors.
- But as new numbers from Nielsen tell us, "Severance" isn't nearly as popular as truly massive streaming shows.
How do you know "Severance" is a breakthrough hit for Apple TV+?
There are lots of ways to judge that: If you're a social media person, you've seen the memes. If you read The New York Times, you've seen story after story after story — at least eight in the last week. Maybe you're just taking my word for it. (Thank you!)
And if you're a numbers person, there are actual numbers you can refer to, courtesy of Nielsen. Those will tell you that in the last week of February, for instance, "Severance" was the sixth-most popular original streaming show in the US.
Nielsen
But take another look at that chart because there's a bunch of context there — something that tells you a bit about the gap between "thing lots of people are talking about" and "thing lots of people are watching."
In my little filter bubble, "Severance" is the buzziest streaming show of the year so far. And lots of people who aren't in my filter bubble are watching it, too — which is why it racked up 622 million minutes of viewing time from February 24 through March 3.
But those numbers are less than half of the really, really popular streaming shows: "Zero Day," a poorly reviewed, ripped-from-the-headlines conspiracy series on Netflix, starring Robert De Niro, had close to 1.5 billion viewing minutes in the same time period. And "Reacher," an Amazon show about a big guy who beats people up, was even more popular.
And that's just when you're talking about streaming originals. When you look at all of the stuff people stream, the gap gets even bigger: "Reacher" and "Zero Day" remain the No. 1 and 2 shows in the country, but "Severance" has totally dropped off the top 10 list, replaced by the likes of "Family Guy" and "Grey's Anatomy" re-runs.
Nielsen
This doesn't mean that "Severance" isn't popular. And given that Apple TV+ has a much smaller subscriber base than competitors like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, it makes the show's performance even more impressive. Maybe you watched a few minutes of "Zero Day" because you were idly scrolling through the Netflix homepage and gave it a shot. But you had to work to watch "Severance," and lots of people did.
This is a reminder of something that lots of us (raises hand) tend to forget: It's a big world out there, and lots of people like stuff that you don't — including stuff you've never heard of. Worth remembering, whether you're talking about streaming TV, politics, or anything else.