The year 2025 has been good for television and streaming. Squid Game returned to Netflix, while Landman blew up Paramount+. And along the way, old favourites like NCIS and Love Island continued to churn up numbers on the ‘traditional’ platforms as well. Yet, all these big TV shows were upstaged in the viewership numbers by an Australian children’s program. The world’s most-watched TV show has already racked up 25 billion views.
The world’s most-watched TV show of 2025
The global market research firm Nielsen tabulates the viewership numbers and TV ratings of shows worldwide. In its latest report released last month, the firm revealed the most-streamed and most-watched TV shows worldwide from January to June 2025. And while hot favourites like Squid Game, The White Lotus, and The Night Agent all found a place in the top 20, they were way off the top. Sitting pretty at number 1 is the Australian animated show, Bluey. According to Nielsen, Bluey has 25 billion minutes viewed in the first half of 2025, beating Grey’s Anatomy, which closely follows with 22.5 billion minutes.
Minutes are used as a comparative metric because “it’s the great equalizer across dissimilar program categories and ultimately shows how consumers are spending their viewing time,” according to Nielsen.
About Bluey
Bluey has appeared on Nielsen’s streaming ratings, either on the overall list or on the Top 10 acquired series, for 143 straight weeks, starting in October 2022. The show routinely makes it to the top as its target audience is young children, who tend to repeat episodes. Its large library of episodes also increases the minutes viewed over drama shows like The White Lotus or Squid Game, which only have 22-30 episodes. Created by Joe Brumm and produced by Ludo Studio from Queensland, Bluey began airing in 2018 and went worldwide the following year. In the US, it gained popularity after its arrival on Disney Junior and eventually Disney+ in 2019. The show, aimed at pre-schoolers, has 154 episodes spread across 3 seasons.
The shows that Bluey beat
Nielsen’s list features several prominent shows that continue to garner views based on reruns, such as Friends, The Big Bang Theory, and Supernatural, alongside new favourites like The Rookie (15 billion minutes), Reacher (13 billion), and The White Lotus (11 billion). Luminate’s independent list for shows from 2025 features names like Landman (14.4 billion), Mobland (8 billion), Love Island (8 billion), and The Pitt (6.2 billion).
