Netflix's Cobra Kai Leads Nielsen's Streaming Top 10

Netflix's Cobra Kai was the runaway title on Nielsen's latest weekly list of top 10 streaming shows in terms of minutes watched. For the week between August 31 and September 6, Nielsen--the information, data, and measurement firm synonymous with TV ratings--clocked the series set in The Karate Kid universe as logging 2,171 million minutes across 20 episodes. In the second spot is another Netflix series: Lucifer with 1,415 million minutes.

Nielsen's expansion into measuring viewing habits on streaming shows is a new, and very recent development: Back in late August, Fox Sports executive Michael Mulvihill tweeted about the "significance" of the move, also signaling "the first time TV viewing outside the home will be fully integrated into Nielsen's national TV ratings."

In addition to whatever perceptions there might be about Nielsen lagging behind the times, it's worth noting that the list is still catching up with the landscape--even though ratings take a while to be released to reflect that. When the list first premiered in early September, Nielsen was only measuring programs on Netflix and Amazon. Since then, both Disney+ and Hulu have been added, and we can expect to see more streaming services included in the future.

The current list is definitely Netflix-heavy: The sole exceptions are Amazon's The Boys in at No. 3 with 891 million minutes, and Disney+'s Mulan in at No. 10 with 525 million minutes. The ever-enduring comfort-food workplace comedy The Office, which is still on Netflix, landed in fourth place with 891 million minutes.