Severance might just have had Apple’s best viewership performance for a drama, according to the just-released Nielsen streaming charts which covers the week commencing Jan 13th. This is the first time Nielsen has published data covering the period in which the second season of Severance started airing.
Despite only premiering on the Friday of the week covered by the stats, Severance managed to hit number four on the top 10 original series chart, with almost 600 million minutes viewed.
As Apple TV+ has significantly less reach than some of its rivals, most of its shows don’t crack the Nielsen chart at all. But Severance appears to be a genuine success story, having both amassed a large audience on streaming and received a strong positive reaction from critics.
The last time any Apple show appeared this high on the Nielsen chart was during Ted Lasso’s season three run, and if the momentum continues, there’s a chance Severance rises even higher next week when Nielsen releases numbers for the period January 20 – January 26. That chart will include viewing figures for a full week in which Severance season two premiere was available to watch.
Apple shows actually appeared twice on Nielsen chart for the week of Jan 13th. As well as Severance, Silo slipped in at the number ten position with 400 million minutes watched. Notably, I think this is the first time ever Apple has had two different titles breach the top ten originals chart.
As always, it’s worth noting that Nielsen streaming charts cover viewership in the United States only, and the streaming services — including Apple — often dispute their accuracy. But as Apple refuses to share viewing figures itself, it’s the best we have to go on.
Severance is currently in the middle of its second season, with new episodes airing every Friday through March 21. A third season is believed to be in development, but has not been publicly greenlit by Apple just yet.
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