‘Stranger Things’ Dominates 2025-26 TV Season as Nielsen’s Multiplatform Rankings Reshape the Ratings Landscape

In a television season defined by shifting viewing habits and the relentless expansion of streaming, Netflix’s supernatural juggernaut Stranger Things has once again proven its cultural stranglehold. The Duffer Brothers’ sci-fi thriller closed out its final season with an astonishing average of 32.9 million viewers across 35 days, vaulting it to the top of Nielsen’s multiplatform rankings for the 2025-2026 TV season. The milestone not only cements the series as the most-watched non-sports program of the year but also underscores how the industry’s measurement yardstick has fundamentally changed.

Nielsen’s multiplatform ranker, introduced in 2024, finally offers a true apples-to-apples comparison between streaming and linear television. By aggregating viewership across both platforms — including delayed and catch-up viewing on network streaming partners — the data reveals a far more nuanced picture of audience engagement. Gone are the days when live+same-day ratings alone dictated the winners. The new metric shows that shows like Stranger Things, which thrive on long-tail consumption, can overshadow even the most robust linear hits.

The Streaming Giant Flexes Its Muscles

Netflix’s dominance in the top 10 is unmistakable. Beyond Stranger Things, the streamer also claimed the second spot with the psychological thriller His & Hers, based on the bestselling novel by Alice Feeney. The series, which debuted in late 2025, averaged over 25 million viewers in its first 35 days, proving that Netflix’s investment in prestige limited series continues to pay off.

The rest of the top 10 reads like a Netflix roster: multiple originals pushing past the 15-million-viewer threshold. While the streamer has faced criticism for canceling fan-favorite titles prematurely, its ability to generate massive, sustained viewership for flagship content remains unmatched. The data reinforces a simple truth: in the streaming wars, scale and retention are king.

Broadcast’s Lone Survivor: The Taylor Sheridan Effect

The only broadcast series to crack the top five — and the highest-ranked linear show of the season — is CBS’s Marshals, the first series set in Taylor Sheridan’s expanding Yellowstone universe to air on a traditional network. With 20.7 million multiplatform viewers, the procedural drama about U.S. Marshals navigating frontier justice in modern-day Montana proved that linear television can still compete when paired with a proven brand and a devout fanbase.

Marshals benefits heavily from delayed viewing on Paramount+, where younger audiences binge episodes days after their broadcast premiere. That hybrid model — a network debut followed by a streaming window — has become the standard for CBS, NBC, and ABC as they fight to stay relevant in a cord-cutting era.

Other Linear Hits: Tracker, High Potential, The Pitt, and Landman

Further down the list, CBS’s Tracker — starring Justin Hartley as a lone-wolf survivalist — carved out a solid top-10 finish, drawing 16.8 million viewers. The series, now in its second season, has become a reliable anchor for the network’s Sunday lineup.

ABC’s High Potential, a drama about a gifted janitor who helps the LAPD solve cold cases, also made the cut with 14.2 million viewers. The show, produced by Drew Goddard, has been praised for its inventive storytelling and strong lead performance, earning a swift renewal for a second season.

On the streaming side, HBO Max’s medical drama The Pitt, set in a chaotic Pittsburgh trauma center, attracted 17.3 million viewers. The series, created by R. Scott Gemmill, has drawn comparisons to early ER for its breathless pace and emotional depth. Paramount+’s Landman, another Sheridan-produced oil-rig drama, earned 15.1 million viewers, further solidifying the producer’s Midas touch.

Why This Season’s Rankings Matter

Nielsen’s move to release a unified multiplatform chart represents a seismic shift in how the industry measures success. For years, streaming networks operated in a black box, releasing only self-reported metrics. The new ranker forces transparency, and the numbers tell a clear story:

• Streaming-first series dominate the conversation. Six of the top 10 shows are Netflix originals. The platform’s ability to sustain viewership over a 35-day window gives it a structural advantage over weekly broadcast drops.
• Broadcast still has a pulse — but only with streaming tailwinds. Without their respective streaming partners, shows like Marshals and Tracker would register far lower totals. Linear viewership continues to decline year-over-year, making the multiplatform metric essential for accurate representation.
• Franchises drive reliability. From the Stranger Things finale to Sheridan’s ever-growing universe, audiences gravitate toward established worlds. New IP struggles to break through unless it arrives with a built-in fanbase.

The Final Season Effect: Stranger Things’ Long Goodbye

The 32.9 million average for Stranger Things season 5 — its last — is a testament to the power of event television in the streaming age. The show launched in 2016 as a modest, nostalgic homage to 1980s horror and adventure. Over four prior seasons, it evolved into a globe-spanning phenomenon, spawning merchandise, theme park attractions, and even a stage play. The final season premiered in two five-episode volumes, with the finale arriving on Valentine’s Day 2026.

What’s remarkable is that Stranger Things achieved its numbers without the benefit of a live broadcast event. There were no water-cooler moments tied to a specific Tuesday night time slot. Instead, viewers binged on their own schedules, with the series sustaining engagement over the full 35-day window. That kind of endurance is rare — even by Netflix’s own standards.

Looking Ahead: What the 2026-2027 Season Might Hold

As the 2025-2026 season wraps up (Nielsen’s data runs only through mid-April, meaning late premieres like The Crown’s final episodes could shift some totals), the landscape is already shifting. Netflix has a slate of high-profile projects on deck, including a Squid Game prequel and a new Ryan Murphy anthology. CBS is doubling down on Sheridan content with a second season of Marshals and a spin-off set in Chicago. Meanwhile, Disney+ and Apple TV+ are investing heavily in franchise expansions, but neither cracked the top 10 this season.

One thing is certain: the multiplatform ranker is here to stay. It will continue to reshape how networks and streamers market their shows, how advertisers allocate budgets, and how talent agents negotiate deals. The race for the top spot next year will likely be even tighter, as more platforms adopt hybrid release strategies and as the sheer volume of original content continues to explode.

For now, as the Hawkins crew rides off into the Upside Down sunset, Stranger Things leaves behind a ratings legacy that may stand for years — unless, perhaps, the next global phenomenon is already streaming in someone’s queue.

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