Nielsen Streaming Top 10: 'Cobra Kai' Debuts at No. 1, 'Rings of Power' Still Surpasses 'House of the Dragon'

'Cobra Kai' made an explosive debut on Nielsen's weekly streaming charts, racking up 1, 7 billion minutes viewed between its premiere on Netflix on September 9 and the end of the viewing window on September 11. It's a significant feat not just because of the series' big jump past the billion mark, but because it reached that number in what ultimately became a streaming history of the week.

Nielsen's September 5-11 viewing window marked the first time four platforms different streaming services have crossed 1 billion minutes viewed. In second place was the streaming debut of "Thor: Love and Thunder," which had 1.5 billion minutes of watching when it arrived on Disney+ on September 8, two months after its theatrical premiere. Netflix's "Devil in Ohio" followed in third place with 1.4 billion minutes watched after debuting as No. 5 last week.

The next two titles to surpass one billion minutes watched were the "Lord of the Rings" prequel to Amazon Prime Video series 'The Rings of Power' and HBO's 'Game of Thrones' prequel series 'House of the Dragon', with 'The Rings of Power' beating its competitor for the second week in a row - although this time, by a smaller margin.

At #4, "The Rings of Power" was watched for 1.2 billion minutes during the September session. 5-11 viewing window, tied with its tally on last week's streaming charts, where it took the No. 1 position. "House of the Dragon" remained at number five, but registered 1 billion minutes watched, up from 781 million last week.

Being major genre projects based on world-renowned intellectual property, both shows were pitted against each other to each other in popular culture, but there will always be limits when comparing their audiences. Presenting new episodes at different times and appearing on different platforms, both have their own mix of pros and cons.

Namely, in favor of "The Rings of Power" is the fact that it is streaming exclusive to Amazon Prime Video, so all of its viewers on U.S. TV screens are counted in the Top 10. (Nielsen doesn't measure viewing outside the country or on other devices.) But "House of the Dragon" airs on HBO's cable channel in addition to streaming on HBO Max. That means a significant number of viewers aren't counted here – potentially up to a third of the show's audience, based on viewership on its first night when 3.2 million on 9.99 million total viewers tuned in live on HBO.

At the same time, HBO's release strategy for "House of the Dragon" is better suited to measure Nielsen chronology. New episodes of the "Game of Thrones" prequel premiere Sunday night against Amazon's Friday drops for "The Rings of Power." As a result, the first two episodes of “The Rings of Power” were available to stream for the entire September 5-11 viewing window, while Episode 3 only arrived on September 9. By contrast, the first three "House of the Dragon" episodes were available for the entire viewing window, with the added bonus of Episode 4 arriving on HBO Max hours before Nielsen stopped measuring. /p> The resurfacing of the "Game of Thrones" franchise also brings viewers back to the original series. 'Game of Thrones' came in at number seven in the chart, down from fourth place the previous week, although its viewing minutes actually fell from 791 million to 805 million.

Sixth place this week was "Pinocchio," Disney+'s live-action adaptation of the movie. 1940 Disney animation of The Same Name. The film was watched for 930 million minutes during the viewing period from September 5 to 11.

The "NCIS" (747 million) and the "Cocomelon" stood as usual at the bottom ranking (701 million) and "Grey's Anatomy" (622 million).

See the latest Nielsen Top 10...