The White Lotus Season 2 Finale and Friends Rebound Help HBO Max Have a Solid Week

HBO Max had a solid streaming performance during the week of December 5-11. According to Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 chart, “The White Lotus” and “Friends” were among the streamer’s most popular services this week.

The White Lotus debuted at No. 7, appearing on the charts after the premiere of the second season finale, which aired on Dec. 11. Within hours of its release, the series reached 752 million minutes watched. Expect that number to grow in the coming days, as only the first few hours of availability were included in Nielsen measurements this week.

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Friends saw an inexplicable spike in views weeks after Thanksgiving, placing 8th on the streaming charts and 4th on the acquired titles list with 737 million minutes watched. It’s hard to say what propelled the series into the top 10 list, but it’s clear evidence of the catalog’s importance in the WBD portfolio.

Elsewhere on the list, “Wednesday” continues to lead the way with 3.33 billion minutes watched — a slight drop from the previous week’s 5.3 billion minutes. Still, that’s still an impressive number in its third week of availability. Should the series continue to be so successful, it will likely break its own record again. The Netflix title has already set a record for the second-highest streaming week of all time from Nielsen. It is only surpassed by “Stranger Things” season 4, which garnered 7.2 billion minutes watched in its first full week of availability.

Firefly Lane saw a huge increase in viewership this week, pushing the drama into second place for the second week with 1.36 billion minutes watched for 19 episodes. The first half of the second and final season, starring Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke, was released on December 2. The seven episodes of the second half are scheduled to debut on June 8.

Brad Pitt’s Bullet Train saw a surge in viewership in its first full week on Netflix. The action thriller ranks third with nearly 1.35 billion minutes watched. Last week, the film barely made the list, coming in at No. 9 behind NCIS and Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields. Another Netflix film, Troll, opened last week ahead of the killer film at No. 4. The film has since fallen off the overall list, but remains at No. 2 on the film charts with 517 million minutes watched.

The first part of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s documentary series reached number 4 on the overall titles chart after its release on December 8. Within four days of its release, “Harry & Meghan” reached almost 1.27 billion minutes watched. With part 2 of the series released on December 15, it is likely that the show will remain in the top 10 programs for some time to come.

The other chart positions were taken by “Cocomelon” (945 million), “NCIS” (885 million), “Yellowstone” (726 million) and “Gilmore Girls” (628 million).

First, check out Nielsen’s list of overall streaming rankings for December 5-11, followed by original streaming titles, acquired titles, and then movies.