‘The Penguin’ Held No. 1 on Streaming Top 10 for Its Entire Run | Chart
It’s no question that the Max/HBO series “The Penguin” is one of streaming’s breakout hits of the year with the series now earning its eighth straight week at No. 1.
Let’s dig into the components driving its massive viewership. It’s a grim, violent series set in Batman’s home turf of Gotham City (yet the masked superhero never appears). Its protagonist is actually a villain, the mobster on the come-up named Oswald Cobb, aka the Penguin, who shows himself to be a murderous, vengeful monster of a man bent on taking over the city’s drug trade by any means necessary. And the actor playing Cobb, Colin Farrell, is rendered unrecognizable beneath heavy prosthetics and makeup.
The series’ Nov. 10 finale, “A Great Or Little Thing,” capped a dominant eight-week run atop Samba TV’s Weekly Wrap Report streaming chart. All that remains to be seen is if “The Penguin” can soar in similar fashion to Max/HBO’s summer smash “House of the Dragon,” which topped the chart even after it stopped airing new episodes.
“The Penguin” is followed on the chart by another series centered on a crime boss and one that has also spent every week of its season in the Samba TV Weekly Wrap top 10, “Tulsa King.” The Paramount+ show is the latest hit from “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan (more on that later) and has steadily risen up the ranks since its second season began in September. It is perhaps the only program with a chance to unseat “The Penguin” on next week’s chart, with its season finale airing on Nov. 17.
The next five entries on the chart belong to Netflix, led by “Outer Banks.” The fourth season of the popular drama returns to the chart after a two-week absence, as the second half of its season was added to the streamer on Nov. 7. That’s followed by “The Diplomat,” which moves up one spot to No. 4. The show appears to be growing in popularity among viewers, as its first season also makes the chart this week at No. 10.
In fifth is the documentary “Martha,” which is also up one spot from last week. “The Lincoln Lawyer” makes the chart for the fourth consecutive week, although this is its lowest position, coming in at No. 7.
Wedged in there at No. 6 is a sign of the changing seasons: the first Christmas program of 2024. “Meet Me Next Christmas,” a feature-length rom-com, was added to Netflix on Nov. 6, signaling a breakneck transition from Halloween to holiday programming. The film, starring Christina Milian, is the first of several to come for Netflix starring early 2000s fan-favorites that will speak to millennial audiences. Hanging on from Halloween, however, is Netflix’s time-travel slasher film “Time Cut” coming in at No. 9.
No. 8 is “Despicable Me 4.” The latest adventure of Gru and his minions previously made our chart back in August when it was made available via video-on-demand. It returns after being added to the Peacock library on Halloween.
On the linear side, it appears there is a bit of a battle brewing between “The Voice” and “Tracker.” NBC’s singing competition tends to top the linear chart in the fall, and it returns to the top spot this week. “Tracker,” a scripted show that benefits from airing after CBS’s Sunday football slate, is down to No. 2 this week after topping the chart for two weeks in a row.
The big news on linear is the return of the hit “Yellowstone.” The popular western series began airing the second half of its fifth season on the Paramount Network on Nov. 10 – nearly two years after it completed the first half of the season. Helping to drive its success this week was its one-off showing on CBS. Will we see more pick up when the show hits streaming in December? Time will tell if its streaming debut on Peacock, not Paramount+, will help extend its popularity.
Sandwiched around “Yellowstone” are “Chicago Med” at No. 3 and “Chicago Fire” at No. 5. “Saturday Night Live” comes in at No. 6, as viewers likely tuned in to see how the show would handle the results of the presidential election.
ABC’s drama “9-1-1” comes in at No. 7, while “Murder in a Small Town,” a detective series on Fox, makes its first appearance on the chart, at No. 9. Finally, two airings of “Wheel of Fortune” round out this week’s Top 10.
The Wrap Report provides an exclusive first look at the most-watched movies and TV series from the past week across both streaming and linear television sourced from viewership trends collected from Samba TV’s panel of more than 3 million households, balanced to the U.S. Census.
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