Reality TV on Streaming in 2025: 35% Drop in Viewership, But Hits Remain Unshaken
Today we’re diving into the data behind reality television’s performance on streaming platforms.
We have collected Nielsen viewership data covering all of 2024, as well as the first half of 2025 (through June 15).
We’ll start by examining some of this year’s standout programs and then compare overall genre performance to last year’s numbers.
While Love Island USA Season 7 has undoubtedly been a major hit, we don’t have the full overview of how the series has performed because Nielsen’s reporting lags behind by about a month. Even with only 2 weeks of data, it’s right below our #5 reality series this year- needless to say this’ll continue to rise through the ranks as we get more data.
2025’s Top 5 Reality Series on Streaming (so far)
#1. Love Is Blind – Netflix
With 4 total rankings in 2025, the Netflix reality-dating series has accumulated 4.75 billion minutes viewed, averaging about 1.187 billion minutes viewed per ranking.
It’s also worth noting that Love Is Blind was released with a binge-strategy, meaning all episodes were available upon premiere.
#2. Love On the Spectrum U.S. – Netflix
With 4 total rankings so far this year, the beloved reality-docuseries showcases the challenges and misconceptions of finding love while being on the spectrum. The series has accumulated 2.69 billion minutes viewed, averaging about 672 million minutes viewed per ranking.
It’s also worth noting that Love on the Spectrum U.S. was released with a binge-strategy, meaning all episodes were available upon premiere.
#3. Beast Games – Prime Video
The Mr. Beast-created reality competition broke records for offering the single-largest cash prize in reality history. Its viewership wasn’t record-breaking, but it did do fairly well on streaming. In 6 total rankings in consecutive weeks (excluding its premiere in late-December of 2024) the series accumulated 2.942 billion minutes viewed on Prime Video. The series averaged over 415.333 millionminutes viewed per week during its 6-week stretch.
Released on a weekly schedule.
#4. The Traitors – Peacock
Reality series The Traitors was definitely a hit for Peacock, where the series has accumulated 2.392 billion minutes viewed. The series ranked in the data set 5 different times, averaging 478 million minutes viewed per appearance. The Traitors actually retained higher viewership per episode than Beast Games.
Released on a weekly schedule.
#5. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives – Hulu
This reality-docuseries follows a group of women navigating their lives within the Mormon religion. The series has totaled 1.917 billion minutes viewed according to Nielsen, averaging 639 million minutes viewed per ranking(two rankings). This actually showcases higher average episode viewership than Beast Games and The Traitors in the data set.
It’s also worth noting that The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives was released with a binge-strategy, meaning all episodes were available upon premiere.
2024 vs. 2025 Analysis on our FULL article!
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