‘The Penguin’ Premiere Rules the Streaming Roost With More Viewers Than ‘House of the Dragon’ | Chart

Since July, the most-watched streaming program on the Samba TV Weekly Wrap Report has fallen into one of two buckets. Either it’s been a big-budget Max series built around popular IP or it’s been a Netflix release.

This week, the former reigns supreme as “The Penguin,” a spin-off from the 2022 film “The Batman,” sits atop the chart for the week of Sept. 16 to 22. The series’ first episode drew 3.2 million households over the first four days it was available on Max.

That’s even better viewership than Max’s last big hit this year, “House of the Dragon.” The first episode of the Game of Thrones spin-off drew 2.8 million households in its first four days, and it topped the streaming chart for the entirety of its second season run (and then some). It remains to be seen if “The Penguin” will be the new emperor, or if it will cede its crown next week.

As for that prestige Netflix fare, last week’s chart-topper “The Perfect Couple” slides to No. 3 this week. The Nicole Kidman-led limited series topped the charts two weeks in a row, after it took the baton from Netflix’s “The Union,” which had a three-week run of its own. The streaming program that held the top spot before that? The aforementioned “Dragon” on Max.

In second place this week is actually another star-led drama from Netflix, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” This is the second season of Ryan Murphy’s “Monster” series for the streamer. It tells the real life story of the Menendez brothers, who murdered their parents, played by Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny. Meanwhile, “The Uglies,” a story about a superficial dystopia, moves up four slots this week to No. 4.

No. 5 is “Tulsa King,” the Paramount+ series starring Sylvester Stallone. CBS had been airing the show’s first season on linear TV on Sunday nights to build up anticipation for Season 2, and the strategy clearly paid off.

“Rebel Ridge,” the Neftlix action movie, is No. 6 this week, followed by the second half of season four of “Emily in Paris,” also on Netflix. Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” drops down two spots from No. 6 to No. 8 this week. It’s followed by the Netflix true-crime program “Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter,” which is down four spots from last week.

Last but not least is Hulu’s hit “Only Murders in the Building,” which sticks on the chart at No. 10.

Over on linear, “America’s Got Talent” stepped back into the spotlight with its season 19 finale, which tops the chart this week.

At No. 2 is “Rescue: HI-Surf” a new scripted show from Fox that got a likely viewership bump thanks to a special preview airing immediately following Fox’s Sunday NFL programming.

“Dancing with the Stars” kicked off its 33rd season on Sept. 17, and the premiere episode lands No. 3 this week. It is followed by another ABC program, “The Golden Bachelorette,” which began its very first season on Sept. 18 and lands No. 4 this week. Meanwhile, Season 47 of “Survivor” also began on Sept. 18 and comes in at No. 6 this week.

“Wheel of Fortune” and new host Ryan Seacrest claim three spots this week — No. 5, No. 7 and No. 9, while “Celebrity Family Feud” claims the remaining two entries.

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.

Cole Strain is VP and Head of R&D at Samba TV, a WrapPRO partner. Click here for more data and analysis  from Samba TV. 

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