The most popular cartoons on streaming services in 2023
Traditional TV ratings group Nielsen has expanded into also covering streaming service viewership. To that end, they recently published a report about the most watched movies and TV shows on streaming services.
Overall, Nielsen says streaming rose by 21% over 2022. The most-watched TV show on a streaming service in 2023 was “Suits,” a USA Network series that aired from 2011 to 2019. “Suits” found renewed popularity when it was added to Netflix. On a related note, the most-watched streaming content in 2023 was all acquired TV shows; originals had much lower viewership numbers. Despite the “streaming wars” hype around originals, the back catalog is a big part of what attracts people to streaming services. It’s also one reason things like Warner Bros. Discovery erasing content from (HBO) Max is aggravating.
Meanwhile, animation is still popular on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and so on. Below is a look at the most popular cartoons on streaming services in 2023, as well as the number of minutes each TV show/film was watched. Note last year’s version of this post had FlixPatrol to draw from, but most of that site's information is now behind an expensive paywall; thus, this year’s post is more limited in scope.
Animated TV shows in the top 10
Bluey (Disney+), 43.9 billion minutes (#2 overall)
Cocomelon (Netflix), 36.3 billion minutes (#5 overall)
Unsurprisingly, “Bluey” was the most popular cartoon by far. The Australian kids’ show about a family of talking dogs has become quite popular worldwide.
“Cocomelon” is also popular among preschoolers. Despite being on Netflix, the show also has a strong presence on YouTube.
In the overall rankings, Netflix dominates the top 10 shows; Disney+ clocks in for “Bluey,” while Max has two slots (for “The Big Bang Theory” and “Friends”). A few shows were on multiple platforms, such as “NCIS” (Netflix and Paramount+) and the aforementioned “Suits.” The latter was also on Peacock, though Netflix is obviously the reason it caught on.
Animated films in the top 10
Moana (Disney+), 11.6 billion minutes (#1 overall)
Encanto (Disney+), 9.7 billion minutes (#2 overall)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Netflix/Peacock), 8.8 billion minutes (#3 overall)
Elemental (Disney+), 8.6 billion minutes (#4 overall)
Minions: The Rise of Gru (Netflix), 7.1 billion minutes (#5 overall)
Sing 2 (Netflix), 6.7 billion minutes (#6 overall)
Frozen (Disney+), 6.5 billion minutes (#7 overall)
Animation is clearly the winner for movies on streaming services, as well as a big sign it’s kids watching (and re-watching) certain films driving up numbers. Topping the list is “Moana,” the 2016 Disney animated film set in an ancient Polynesian kingdom. While a decent film, I’m not sure why “Moana” became so popular; some on social media mentioned the soundtrack as a possible reason.
Coming in behind “Moana” is “Encanto,” the hit 2021 Disney film that gave us the hit song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” On a related note, “Bruno” is the first time a Disney animated feature film song topped the Billboard charts since “Aladdin”’s “A Whole New World” almost 30 years earlier.
Also popular on Disney+ is “Elemental,” a film that had a so-so performance in theaters (after a slow start), and perennial favorite “Frozen.”
Outside of Disney, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” one of the biggest hit films of 2023, came in at #3. Like “Suits,” it appeared on Netflix and Peacock. Again, I assume, like “Suits,” “Super Mario”’s popularity comes more from Netflix than Peacock. “Sing 2” didn’t even get a Peacock listing in Nielsen’s charts, despite being made by Illumination (Comcast owns Illumination and Peacock).