For this overview of streaming and TV audiences in the United States, I am relying on two primary sources: the Nielsen ranking of the 100 most-watched programs, estimated in millions of viewers over the first 35 days of availability (for weekly series, this represents the 35-day average per episode). This is an excellent metric that Nielsen does not frequently share, which is a pity. However, it is limited to the top 100 programs; if a program falls below 5 million viewers, I will not have specific figures, though we know it necessarily garnered less than 5 million or falls outside Nielsen's observed scope.

The second source is Luminate, which has provided me with the Top 50 most-watched streaming programs since the beginning of the year. This metric is expressed in millions of Complete View Equivalents, based on the viewing minutes reported weekly by Luminate. Unfortunately, this measure does not account for linear broadcast programs, so it applies exclusively to content released via streaming.

Combining these two sources allows for a fairly comprehensive view of the most-watched programs. That is precisely what I propose to present today, focusing on the four major categories of the 2026 Emmy Awards.

Let’s start with the Emmy for Comedy Series. If we were to award it to the most-watched show, it would go to Nobody Wants This, which, according to Nielsen, gathered 9.4 million viewers during its first 35 days of availability. This places it ahead of Season 5 of Abbott Elementary on ABC and Disney+/Hulu.

We have viewership figures for all eight series nominated in this category, which is quite fortunate. The series expected to win is Hacks for its final season, yet it is also the least-watched according to Luminate data (and likely Nielsen figures as well). This mirrors last year’s outcome with The Studio, which was the least-watched nominated series before ultimately claiming the Emmy.