(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today\u2019s article. <\/span>Please subscribe<\/a>.)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\nWelcome to the penultimate article in my recap of streaming viewership in 2025. Today, I\u2019m handing out superlatives for the film and TV show winners (and losers) for all of 2025, summarizing my <\/span>last<\/a> <\/span>three<\/a> <\/span>articles<\/a> along with <\/span>the misses articles<\/a> <\/span>from this year<\/a> and <\/span>the first half <\/a>of last year<\/a>. The top film and the top TV show aren\u2019t a surprise, but I think everyone forgets the biggest misses on streaming, especially the TV shows.<\/span><\/p>\nAgain, this series serves as a permanent record, so to speak, for the biggest hits and biggest disappointments of the year.<\/p>\n
But before we get to the winners and losers, let\u2019s look at the biggest TV show story in 2025, which I haven\u2019t mentioned yet in any of my year-end recaps. To do so, I\u2019ll need to make up a new award, my \u201cQuestion Mark of the Year\u201d…<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s dive right in!<\/p>\n
Honorable Mention: <\/strong>The Pitt<\/strong><\/em>\u2019s 2025 performance<\/strong><\/p>\nOne of the more eccentric writing choices I\u2019ve made was, years ago, dubbing TV shows and films that don\u2019t make any streaming viewership or interest charts a \u201cDogs Not Barking\u201d. It\u2019s a literary reference to a Sherlock Holmes story (not <\/span>The Hounds of Baskerville<\/em>, but the short story \u201cThe Adventure of Silver Blaze\u201d) where the master detective deduces that the missing evidence was the dogs <\/span>not barking<\/em> when the criminal came by…because they knew him. In this case, Sherlock was able to notice the thing that didn\u2019t happen.<\/span><\/p>\nThis effect is real. Since we only get top ten lists for streaming viewership (compared to, say, theatrical returns, where we get data on virtually every film, even really small ones, like films in just a handful of theaters), it\u2019s really, really hard to notice\/remember the films and TV shows that go unmentioned.<\/span> This exacerbates the \u201c<\/span>availability heuristic<\/a>\u201d, giving streaming somewhat of a PR leg up over traditional distribution.<\/span><\/p>\nThis year, this happened in a big, big way.<\/p>\n
For example, <\/span>writing up the data last week<\/a>, I noticed that <\/span>Only Murders in the Building<\/em> popped on Antenna\u2019s chart, and I realized that we haven\u2019t mentioned that somewhat-popular (and in past years, very popular) TV show once. Sure enough, it was the fortieth biggest returning show, so not a flop, but also not a top 25 show. So it went unmentioned.<\/span><\/p>\nBut the biggest example from 2025 is, of course, <\/span>Heated Rivalry<\/em>, a TV show that got more news coverage last year than possibly any other TV show, likely surpassing <\/span>Stranger Things <\/em>for buzz. I\u2019m talking think pieces and write-ups in virtually every center\/center-left magazine, website and podcast.<\/span><\/p>\nDid you notice that I didn\u2019t mention this show once in the article in my recap of the top new shows in 2025? Honestly, I forgot about it until I was mostly finished with my write-up. I briefly mentioned <\/span>Heated Rivalry<\/em> <\/span>in my recap of the flops, bombs and misses of the second half of 2025 in a parenthetical<\/a> about how I wasn\u2019t including it, but that was it.<\/span><\/p>\nI stand by that now. This show is still a huge question mark.<\/p>\n
I wrote extensively about <\/a>Heated Rivalry<\/a><\/em> months ago<\/a>, over 3,000 words detailing all the positives (buzz, datecdotes and ROI) and negatives (not making the viewership charts and some exclusive Nielsen data on the show\u2019s low weekly viewership).<\/span><\/p>\n\n<\/p>\n<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Based on the pushback I received at the time, I\u2019m not really in a rush to write about it again or rehash those arguments.<\/span><\/p>\nWhich is fine! Time will tell how well <\/span>Heated Rivalry<\/em> does. Because next year, new episodes will come out, and they\u2019ll prove how much audience the show really does or doesn\u2019t have.<\/span><\/p>\nThe worst case scenario is that <\/span>Heated Rivalry<\/em> is <\/span>Heartstopper<\/em> 2.0. For years, I wrote about how <\/span>Heartstopper<\/em> had pretty lackluster streaming viewership, then people would tweet angry things at me, usually explaining that I didn\u2019t get that everyone watched everything on mobile, especially the kids these days.<\/span><\/p>\nThen the show ended after just three seasons. And massive hits don\u2019t usually end after such short runs.<\/p>\n
Based on the incredibly similar genres (LGBTQ+ romance, though one is sports and the other is YA), I could see the same thing happening to <\/span>Heated Rivalry, <\/em>especially if the budget balloons after next season, since talent will demand a whole lot more money for a show *everyone* is saying is a massive hit, ruining the show\u2019s elite ROI.<\/span><\/p>\nOn the other hand, what\u2019s <\/span>Heated Rivalry<\/em>\u2019s best case scenario? As we saw last year, it could become the next <\/span>The Pitt.<\/em><\/p>\nThe Pitt<\/em>\u2019s viewership grew incredibly slowly last year, and I worried that it invalidated my theory that procedurals would work on streaming. Then the show made the Nielsen charts for its last five weeks, showing strong growth. Still, I didn\u2019t know how season two would do. Now we know. <\/span>As I just wrote<\/a>, it\u2019s huge, and will pass <\/span>Landman<\/em> as the largest second season on streaming of all time.<\/span><\/p>\n
Again, this series serves as a permanent record, so to speak, for the biggest hits and biggest disappointments of the year.<\/p>\n
But before we get to the winners and losers, let\u2019s look at the biggest TV show story in 2025, which I haven\u2019t mentioned yet in any of my year-end recaps. To do so, I\u2019ll need to make up a new award, my \u201cQuestion Mark of the Year\u201d…<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s dive right in!<\/p>\n
Honorable Mention: <\/strong>The Pitt<\/strong><\/em>\u2019s 2025 performance<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the more eccentric writing choices I\u2019ve made was, years ago, dubbing TV shows and films that don\u2019t make any streaming viewership or interest charts a \u201cDogs Not Barking\u201d. It\u2019s a literary reference to a Sherlock Holmes story (not <\/span>The Hounds of Baskerville<\/em>, but the short story \u201cThe Adventure of Silver Blaze\u201d) where the master detective deduces that the missing evidence was the dogs <\/span>not barking<\/em> when the criminal came by…because they knew him. In this case, Sherlock was able to notice the thing that didn\u2019t happen.<\/span><\/p>\n This effect is real. Since we only get top ten lists for streaming viewership (compared to, say, theatrical returns, where we get data on virtually every film, even really small ones, like films in just a handful of theaters), it\u2019s really, really hard to notice\/remember the films and TV shows that go unmentioned.<\/span> This exacerbates the \u201c<\/span>availability heuristic<\/a>\u201d, giving streaming somewhat of a PR leg up over traditional distribution.<\/span><\/p>\n This year, this happened in a big, big way.<\/p>\n For example, <\/span>writing up the data last week<\/a>, I noticed that <\/span>Only Murders in the Building<\/em> popped on Antenna\u2019s chart, and I realized that we haven\u2019t mentioned that somewhat-popular (and in past years, very popular) TV show once. Sure enough, it was the fortieth biggest returning show, so not a flop, but also not a top 25 show. So it went unmentioned.<\/span><\/p>\n But the biggest example from 2025 is, of course, <\/span>Heated Rivalry<\/em>, a TV show that got more news coverage last year than possibly any other TV show, likely surpassing <\/span>Stranger Things <\/em>for buzz. I\u2019m talking think pieces and write-ups in virtually every center\/center-left magazine, website and podcast.<\/span><\/p>\n Did you notice that I didn\u2019t mention this show once in the article in my recap of the top new shows in 2025? Honestly, I forgot about it until I was mostly finished with my write-up. I briefly mentioned <\/span>Heated Rivalry<\/em> <\/span>in my recap of the flops, bombs and misses of the second half of 2025 in a parenthetical<\/a> about how I wasn\u2019t including it, but that was it.<\/span><\/p>\n I stand by that now. This show is still a huge question mark.<\/p>\n I wrote extensively about <\/a>Heated Rivalry<\/a><\/em> months ago<\/a>, over 3,000 words detailing all the positives (buzz, datecdotes and ROI) and negatives (not making the viewership charts and some exclusive Nielsen data on the show\u2019s low weekly viewership).<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n Based on the pushback I received at the time, I\u2019m not really in a rush to write about it again or rehash those arguments.<\/span><\/p>\n Which is fine! Time will tell how well <\/span>Heated Rivalry<\/em> does. Because next year, new episodes will come out, and they\u2019ll prove how much audience the show really does or doesn\u2019t have.<\/span><\/p>\n The worst case scenario is that <\/span>Heated Rivalry<\/em> is <\/span>Heartstopper<\/em> 2.0. For years, I wrote about how <\/span>Heartstopper<\/em> had pretty lackluster streaming viewership, then people would tweet angry things at me, usually explaining that I didn\u2019t get that everyone watched everything on mobile, especially the kids these days.<\/span><\/p>\n Then the show ended after just three seasons. And massive hits don\u2019t usually end after such short runs.<\/p>\n Based on the incredibly similar genres (LGBTQ+ romance, though one is sports and the other is YA), I could see the same thing happening to <\/span>Heated Rivalry, <\/em>especially if the budget balloons after next season, since talent will demand a whole lot more money for a show *everyone* is saying is a massive hit, ruining the show\u2019s elite ROI.<\/span><\/p>\n On the other hand, what\u2019s <\/span>Heated Rivalry<\/em>\u2019s best case scenario? As we saw last year, it could become the next <\/span>The Pitt.<\/em><\/p>\n The Pitt<\/em>\u2019s viewership grew incredibly slowly last year, and I worried that it invalidated my theory that procedurals would work on streaming. Then the show made the Nielsen charts for its last five weeks, showing strong growth. Still, I didn\u2019t know how season two would do. Now we know. <\/span>As I just wrote<\/a>, it\u2019s huge, and will pass <\/span>Landman<\/em> as the largest second season on streaming of all time.<\/span><\/p>\n
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