"Bluey" takes the crown for most-streamed show of 2025 so far

For those unfamiliar, "Bluey" is an Australian show for young children about a dog family that includes the titular child dog Bluey. It's one of those shows that parents will say is "actually pretty good," and to translate that into happily-childless-adult speak, they mean "This show doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out." Those parents are lucky, because they are probably watching a ton of "Bluey." While it is an Australian show, it can be streamed in America on Disney+. There, in the first half of the year, it racked up over 25 billion minutes of viewership. Episodes are, like, eight minutes long, by the way, and no new episodes have come out since August of 2024.

"Bluey" is what Nilesen calls a "library series" which is to say a show that is not a streaming native but exists as a library on streaming. Also, "Bluey" was the most-watched show of 2024 as well, and it's been in the top 10 since October of 2022.

Again, parents of young children are likely not surprised to hear this. However, in terms of thinking about the television landscape and cultural assessments, it seems clear we must codify "Bluey" as one of the defining children's shows in history. It has emerged as the biggest show for children of the modern era, and has done so with such a distance between first and second it is remarkable. 

Notably, though, nine of the 10 shows in the top 10 are library series, so clearly that is where the streaming services garner the most minutes. So which original series emerged and managed to crack the top 10? That would be "Squid Game," which is notable because the third-and-final season only dropped on the penultimate day of the time frame considered. That means it was racking up minutes from the immediate bingers, but also largely the memory-refreshing rewatchers and the catching-up crew as well.

(h/t The Hollywood Reporter)