March marked a high-profile month for streaming, which represented 43.8% of all television usage during the month, driven by top programs across seven different platforms, according to Nielsen‘s latest monthly report, The Gauge. Prime Video‘s Reacher came in atop the list with an impressive 6.6B minutes viewed, pacing ahead by quite a large margin, with second place going to Family Guy on Hulu with 4.8B minutes viewed. March brought with it an array of standout performances in the world of streaming. Shows like Reacher, The White Lotus, and Severance have captured audiences’ attention, while Tracker steals the spotlight, dominating the top 5 of broadcast rankings. But what makes these shows so engaging? Why are they consistently holding their places in the rankings?
Let’s dive deep into why these titles are the talk of the town and how they managed to leave their mark on March’s streaming charts. If there’s one thing Reacher excels at, it’s capturing the essence of a hard-hitting action-packed thriller that viewers can’t get enough of. The show is based on the books by Lee Child and follows the ex-military police officer Jack Reacher. What makes Reacher stand out is its strong lead character, relentless pacing, and unapologetic action scenes that leave viewers on the edge of their seats. It’s no wonder this series grabbed attention and firmly placed itself among March’s top streaming titles.
Notably, The White Lotus came in fourth place with 4.5B minutes of streaming time — which is a strong showing for the series during the month that its third season aired. Given the way Nielsen measures viewership, this would not include any linear viewing on HBO. Per Nielsen, Max had the largest growth month-over-month of all platforms, increasing its streaming share by 6%, largely on the strength of The White Lotus. 1923 came in at No. 5, which is also noteworthy, given that Paramount+ is a rarity on these charts, as is Apple TV+, which eked into the Top 10 with Severance‘s 3.3B minutes streamed.
Unsurprisingly, Netflix had several titles in the Top 10, including Adolescence and Running Point. See the full list below. Thanks to March Madness, cable viewing also saw a slight uptick, climbing to 24% of TV usage. Cable sports viewing ballooned 29%, led by the most-watched cable sports telecasts in March, which were the NCAA Men’s Elite Eight games between Alabama-Duke and Texas Tech-Florida on TBS. Cable news also had a strong showing, accounting for seven of the top 10 cable telecasts.
Broadcast, on the other hand, fell by 9% versus February to finish off the month with just 20.5% of TV usage. In fact, Nielsen says that the Oscars was the most-watched program in March with 20.3M viewers across ABC and the simulcast on Hulu, once again illustrating the strength of multi-platform distribution. Interestingly, CBS seems to be buoying live broadcast viewership, because five of the Top 10 broadcast telecasts in March came from a singular show — Tracker.
See the full TV usage distribution in the graphic below. March was an exciting month for television, with Reacher, The White Lotus, and Severance leading the charge in streaming rankings. While these shows have captivated audiences with their unique takes on drama, action, and psychological thrills, Tracker has proven that broadcast TV still has the power to surprise. As the streaming wars continue to heat up, these titles remind us why we love good storytelling—no matter the platform.
