Netflix's The Sandman has taken the top spot for the most-viewed streaming release on Nielsen's Streaming Charts, overthrowing Stranger Things. The fantasy series is adapted from Neill Gaiman's acclaimed 1989 comic-book series. The bulk of the Netflix series was released on August 5th, 2022, followed by an additional episode on August 19th.
Adapted from the comic book of the same name, The Sandman is a fantastical series that follows Tom Sturridge's Dream, one of the seven all-powerful entities known as The Endless. The lord and personification of all dreams, Dream is suddenly captured for over 106 years by an aristocrat's failed occult ritual. After escaping his captivity, Dream sets out to rebuild his realm and recover his powerful belongings from various human and supernatural individuals, taking him from across the globe to the depths of Hell as he seeks to reclaim his power. After releasing to predominately positive reviews from critics, The Sandman has also succeeded in attracting audiences, topping streaming charts, and surpassing one of Netflix's other most popular titles.
As reported by Variety, Nielsen Media Ratings have released their streaming charts for the week of August 8th to August 14th, revealing that The Sandman had taken the number 1 spot. Three days following its initial release, The Sandman quickly earned an estimated total of 1.4 billion minutes watched across the week, placing it at the top of the chart and ahead of Tom Holland's Uncharted adaptation, which sits in second place with an estimated 1.2 billion minutes watched. The series unseated Stranger Things, which slipped to third place with 1.1 billion minutes watched, falling from 1.4 billion in the prior week.
The Sandman's viewership has become a hot topic of discussion following Gaiman's comments on a potential Sandman season 2, where the author revealed a second season wasn't guaranteed despite the high viewership. When asked by a fan on Twitter about the likelihood of the series being renewed, Gaiman stated that due to the costly production of the series, high viewership alone may not be enough to guarantee that the series met Netflix's expectations. The author later expanded on this, revealing that the streaming service had been monitoring the "completion rates" for the first few weeks of release, suggesting that it'd be best for audiences to binge the series rather than slowly watch it.
Despite being dethroned on Netflix's own charts, news of The Sandman's continued success across the streaming service landscape may provide hope to fans hoping for new seasons. While The Sandman's success amongst other streaming services' offerings is impressive, the series surpassing Stranger Things, which had spent many weeks in the top position following the debut of season 4's first volume, may encourage Netflix to consider investing further into the series. While a second season still isn't necessarily guaranteed, The Sandman's strong performance proves that it has attracted the attention of audiences.
Source: Variety